Digimon re:GENESIS
by Deekamon
Summary: 100 digital years ago, a mysterious entity calling himself Era invaded the Digital World. Only now, with three-quarters of the digital world under his command, does the Digital World summons its last line of defense. Fan-Digidestined and Digimon. Now complete!
1. Chapter 1: Start a Brand New Story

_**VERY IMPORTANT THING: As of February 2013, I have been writing this fic for over a year... and I'm hating how the first bunch of chapters were. So I'm re-writing them! **__This first chapter is, well, the first, so it's first, and I'm doing this in order. There will be no plot changes, merely better writing and characterization. Be warned that the writing on this version will vary as chapters that have been rewritten come before ones that haven't, so if you don't see a "THIS HAS BEEN REWRITTEN" notice like this at the top, until I signal that I'm going to stop rewriting and just start tweaking without rewriting, then it's the old version! (This may help to give a better impression- the writing is shaky at the start, but it reaches a somewhat higher standard later.)  
>Now, on with the show~<em>

_Welcome to another FDD (Fictional Digimon and Digidestined) fic. That is, the cast is made entirely of OCs, a new (if not original) iteration of the Digital World, all that. This is your warning, so back out now if you're afraid of this.  
><em>

_I seriously recomend bringing up the Digimon re:GENESIS Homepage (linked on my profile) for art, profiles, and the like. This isn't so much of simply a fic as it is a sort of multimedia_ project,_ so there's lots of explanations for things I couldn't hamhand into the fic, profile images, soundtracks, art, and so much more. It really will enhance your understanding of the fic (though it should be totally comprehensible without it, I think). _As I said above, as of this update (February 25 2013) I've been working on this thing for over a year. It is my baby, and a lot of work has gone into it that you won't get to see if you leave the experience at this!_  
><em>

_Reviews are amazing- like, please please please review! I can't force you to do anything, and the show will go on whether I get reviews or not, but... hrargh._

* * *

><p>"And you're absolutely sure that this is where he said?"<p>

"One hundred per-cent."

"... and... you... _believed_ him."

"Yep!" Pause. "Hey! Deekamon is really smart!"

"Ugh. I don't know why we keep following you around. This is the billionth time this week."

"Oh, come on!"

On a cliffside overlooking a dense forest, six little creatures sat and waited. The wind blew around them, ruffling the fur of those who had it (and, in one case, feathers). They were a motley bunch, a collection of little things that, for the most part, looked like heads with vestigal limbs and vague animal features. One had the feathers and beak of a bird; another, the ears and tail of a tiger; one was like a small sheep, most of her body fluffy white wool aside from small stubbly legs and a bare black face; and yet another had dolphin-like fins as her decoration.

"I'm just sayin'," the tiger-like one said, "if I don't see anything interesting, and soon, I'm going back. I'm tired of being dragged through the dirt and the sticks a hundred times a week just 'cos you believe anything Deekamon says."

"Well, to be fair," the more avian one remarked, "it's only been ten times in the past week. He said they'd be coming soon."

"That's still way too much!" the little cat-like furball replied, raising an eyebrow. "The Agents are gonna find us soon, if we keep bouncing around like this with no clue what we're doing."

Efudemon (whose animalistic traits were vague at best) folded his little clawed arms. "You just need to learn to trust me- and Deekamon, too."

And so they waited; they waited until the sun was starting to go down beyond the cliffs that obstructed the horizon, casting the forest in a creamy orange hue.

"I'm going back," Cindemon (the little tiger-puff) said decisively, and a murmur of assent rippled throughout the other four that were not Efudemon. Efudemon looked at his companions with a hurt expression, frowning.

"But-" he started, but sighed, defeated. "I guess it's not here, or today. I guess we'll go back." He led his friends, though with a bit in the way of dramatics, in a half-march, half-bounce back down the hill and into the trees.

* * *

><p>It wasn't far, thankfully; it was getting dark, and none of the little creatures particularly wanted to linger around after the sun had sunk down. Ahead of them, nestled in the trees and barely visible if one didn't know where it was (not helped at all by the vines and greenery growing around and on it), was a little hut. It was circular and small, made of chipped cobblestones and roofed by thatched straw; totally unremarkable, in other words.<br>And yet, it was what they called home.

"Deekamon!" Efudemon cried through the thick wooden door, rapping his claws on it. For a moment, there was no reaction, only the sound of various locks sliding undone. Efudemon bounced back as the door suddenly swung open a few inches - only a few inches, mind, before it was stopped by a chain on the inside. Peeking suspiciously with one glowing yellow eye through the open space was their mentor, their friend, their protector.

Deekamon.  
>He was a bizarre sort of creature, tall and humanoid, most of his body covered by cloth, aside from bright yellow eyes that shone from within the darkness under his hood.<p>

"Ahahah," Deekamon said, unlatching the door and opening it just wide enough for his charges to slip inside. "Come inside, and make a quick job of it, if you please." And so the little creatures filed in, and Deekamon took careful tally as they entered.

First was little white-furred Efudemon, with frills of fluff on either side of his head and a short little tail, a splotch of blue around one of his big coal-black eyes, and disproportionally large claws for his size;  
>Next was Cindemon, the one most like a cat, eyes blue and fur burnt-red and cream, with darker stripes on his face and tufted tail;<br>Paleomon followed, pale green with one steogosaurus spike on his tail and head each, his eyes red and his short, stub-like arms each capped in one claw;  
>Then Finmon, teal with big purple eyes, who bounced along using her dolphin-like tailfin to propel her, for her short fin-like arms were not made for on-land locomotion;<br>Mismon was next, a little ball of white feathers with a grey and yellow beak, the long feather on his forehead and his barely-functional wings edged in blue;  
>And last, of course, was Fuwamon, the little lamb, who was very small and light- and also the one of the six with the most defined shape and limbs.<p>

Deekamon nodded to himself with satisfaction, closing the solid wooden door and replacing the chain - and several other locks - the moment the last of the bunch was inside. "I take it I was incorrect, if you've not returned with them?"

"Everyone else wanted to come back, instead of wait longer," Efudemon explained, indignant. "So I guess we'll never know."

Paleomon quirked a brow at the little mammal-like puff, but remained close-mouthed. He was going to speak, but he was cut off.

"We're just tired of being dragged _hither and yon_ on wild Cygnetmon chases," Cindemon complained.

"With more in the way of risk than results," Paleomon said after a momentary pause, making sure that the cat-puff wouldn't speak further.

"We're all a bit on edge," Fuwamon conceded, bowing her head.

"Yeah, I just think Efudemon is so far on-edge he's _fallen off_, yeom!" Finmon remarked. "He's flying over the edge!" And here the little dolphin-like blob mimed the action by flapping her little fin-like arms, before slapping them over her mouth to stifle her giggles.

"It will be soon," Deekamon assured them, folding his arms and bowing his head.

"Yes, but when?" Mismon said, a bit squawkier than he meant for the words to come out.

"Soon," Deekamon gestured with one hand, and he clearly meant for it to be a statement, but it came off as more of a vague suggestion.

"You said that today," Fuwamon said, a little dejected sounding.

"And the day before that," Cindemon added.

"And every day for the past, oh, ten days," Finmon finished.

Deekamon tapped one claw to his head. "Trust me," he said, and he barely had time to get those two simple words out before the very world around them began to shake. The six little beasts jumped, looking around. Deekamon, for his part, was absolutely calm and seemed unsurprised.  
>A moment after the rumble began, a blinding burst of light shone in through every opening of the little hut; every crack, every gap in the straw, the tiny spaces between the door and its frame, spilling in through the lone barred window that sat high in the hut's wall.<br>The third act to this cacophony was a literal cacophony- a deafening roar of noise, the sound of a million oceans crashing down at once, the rushing of every bit of matter, the death of a star-

And as soon as it came, it was all gone. The little creatures looked up at Deekamon, curious to the point of being awe-struck and silent. The humanoid one stepped closer to the window, lifting himself up with his long arms to look outside with narrowed eyes. He scanned his surroundings, into the darkness of the trees.  
>He perked up visibly a moment later, and dropped back down to the floor among the bouncing blobs. A giggle escaped him, and he spread his arms wide.<p>

"It's showtime, kids!"

* * *

><p>Thirteen-year-old Simon Bell grunted every step of the way as he heaved a loaded bag of garbage into the can, slapdashedly putting the lid on and dragged it out to the curb. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, leaning on the can as he slid it into place alongside identical recepticles, where the garbage truck would come to pick it up in the morning.<br>"One down," he said to himself, pulling a pen from his pocket and clicking the bottom end, "and fifty bazillion to go." He retrieved a crumpled sheet of paper from his other pocket, unfolding it and striking off an item.

Simon's parents were out of town for varying periods of time every so often; some sort of business relating to... business. This theoretically left him and Sarah, his sister, to manage the house; what it meant in reality was that Simon would do the bulk of the work, while Sarah claimed "big sister privelege" made her exempt.  
>In short: chores. So many chores. He didn't really mind doing them, not really, but it was still a little annoying that Sarah only rarely helped.<p>

He looked around, taking a momentary break. It was a warm summer evening, the hum of cars further into the city a constant. However, he seemed to be the only person out on his street. There were no cars passing by on this suburban street, no people walking, not even any dogs or cats running loose. It was a bit surreal, honestly.

He was knocked out of his reverie when, from behind him, a shrill yell sounded out. "Yo, _Simon_!"  
>Simon turned to look; in the door, Sarah stood. She looked much like him; a mop of plum-coloured hair on her head and bright green eyes, though she was taller and... well, a girl. Leaning against the door frame, she held a cellphone in one hand, and was holding it up.<p>

"I finished the garbage, you don't need to yell," Simon said, nodding his head in the direction of the three full garbage cans. "It's a mystery to me, Sar', how you can eat all this and not be the size of a whale. ... or, well, more like a whale than usual."  
>Simon grinned while Sarah - exactly as predicted - turned roughly the shade of a boiled beet. Why, one could almost see the vein in her forehead begin to throb erratically.<p>

"Simon, you brat!" she hissed, and almost threw the phone in her hand to the ground, but she reigned her temper in. Instead, she merely massaged her temple with her free hand. "I was just going to tell you your phone went off."  
>He took a step or two closer before she threw it underhand to him, and the little device sailed in a smooth arc until it thumped into its owner's chest.<p>

"Oh," he said, blinking. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah," Sarah said, turning to go back inside. "I'm gonna find something to heat up for dinner."

Simon watched after her, rolling his eyes, before he stepped into the door-frame, leaning up on it as he flipped his phone open. Indeed, there was a new alert- a new text message. It was a mite on the odd site, though; the 'new text message' screen bore no name from the sender- not even a number. He cocked an eyebrow, but despite his better instincts he clicked his thumb down on the button to open it up.  
>It opened up, and was a completely blank message; no text. Both of his eyebrows raised, then, and he absentmindedly began to adjust the aviator goggles he wore over his blue beanie-cap. "Huh. Do they make viruses for cell phones now?" He supposed they did, but this was just a run of the mill phone, not even one of those fancy smart phones.<p>

He shrugged a shoulder and went through the motions to delete it, but furrowed his brow. 'Would you like to delete this message?' popped up, but when he confirmed it, the message (or rather, non-message) merely popped right back up. There wasn't even a time stamp. He sighed, sliding the little device into his pocket.  
>If he had kept an eye on his phone, however, he would have noticed that rather than the screen turning off, the light of the screen began to pulsate rhythmically, going from its default light to incredibly bright and fading once more. It was slow to start, only once every couple seconds, but it quickly gained steam, until the screen was simply shining brilliantly, a vivid white light.<p>

It seemed that it could no longer contain the energy of the flashing light, as his cellphone then began to vibrate, and this definitely caught Simon's attention. It escalated from a simple vibration to shaking far harder than any phone had the right - or even the logical capacity - to. Simon pulled the phone out of his pocket, and very nearly dropped it once he did. The light had spread from the screen to the entire phone, as though he were holding a solid block of light.

And then the light spread from the phone to his hand and up through his arm.

"Oh, this can't be good."

The light spread faster, engulfing the boy's entire body; he was simply too dumbstruck to move, to cry out, to do anything.

And then there was the sound of a beep, the alert sound of any average text message arrival, and that was it- Simon Bell vanished into thin air, and to him, it all went black.

What Simon did not know - could not know - was that this experience of his was not unique.

* * *

><p>"Ah, crap, I think I got hit by that truck..."<p>

"That's it, I'm dead, call the morgue."

"My head..."

"What on earth?"

When Simon opened his eyes, he found himself lying in the dirt and staring up at an unfamiliar sky and surrounded by voices. He couldn't place his finger on it, but something felt... incredibly off. Something felt strange about the sky he looked up at, even though it was a relatively normal blue, fading through orange to soon become the inky shade of nighttime.  
>Maybe it was the fact that he swore that, in places, portions of the sky began to shimmer with what looked like binary code.<br>Maybe.

He heaved himself into an upright sitting position, and then felt a rush of blood to his head and a sharp pain in the same, making him dizzy. He slammed his eyes shut and placed a hand on his head, before he gingerly opened one eye to look around. Behind him, there was a hill leading up to a cliff; in front of him, an expanse of trees and foliage threading into a curtain of green.  
>All around him, each slowly sitting up as he did, was a group of five other people, all looking more or less to be his age: they numbered two girls and three boys, obviously not counting Simon himself.<p>

He looked to the hand not holding his head, where he gripped his phone. ... what had once been his phone. It was now a device, much the same size, its colours now red and black. It fit comfortably into the palm of his hand, the grip rubber, and it was adorned with a small array of yellow buttons and a screen that occupied perhaps a third of the face of the device.

"Hey, uh, what's going on?" a voice from beside asked; it was one of the girls. Her hair was brown for the most part, and tied into a high ponytail in the back, but her bangs were bleached. Her denim overalls looked a bit dirty and worse for the wear for whatever had brought them here.

"That," said another voice, this being one of the boys, "is an excellent question." Simon did not manage to get a good look at him, though, because when he turned to look at the speaker, he saw something that caught his attention far more.

In the trees, there was something moving.

"_Yaugh_!" Simon blurted, leaping backwards and propping himself up on his hands in a sort of awkward backwards crab-walk.

"Watch it, bucko!" yelped a boy who was nearly crashed into by this motion- and then, when he looked up to see what Simon saw, he did much the same, for out of the trees was coming a small pack of bouncing heads, each a vague ball of vague animal features, being lead by a four-foot-tall purple... something. It was humanoid to some degree, but draped in a purple hoodie whose sleeves encased his hands and were adorned with big claws. Cat ear-like extensions rose from the top of the hoodie, and a sort of half-mask was spread across the bottom half of the open face, fashioned to look like a mad cheshire-cat grin. Inside the hoodie, what face they could see was nothing but black- aside from round, yellow eyes.  
>Cliche as it was to say: they weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto.<p>

And boy, did that get the confused kids to their feet in a hurry. They were in various states of defensive and frozen with _what's going on_, but they were at least on their feet.  
>Without warning, the six bouncing heads stopped- the thing in the purple hoodie, however, kept walking forward, in fact quite quickly. His arms were flung back, his yellow eyes glowing, he seemed ready to attack...<p>

"Hup!"  
>The purple hoodie monster (as Simon was now calling him, in his head) was blindsided by one of the children; a darker-complexioned girl in tall boots and a cropped black jacket, her hair very long, and a tree branch gripped tightly in one hand like it was a club. She had lunged in from the side, smashing her knee into the thing's side, and knocking it entirely off-course. ... and into a tree.<br>The purple thing crumpled at the blow, tumbling over himself and folding as though he had no bones- in fact, almost like he had no body underneath his clothes at all.

Taking advantage of this temporary lull, the other five childrens grabbed anything that was close at hand- rocks and branches, mostly, as this was not a high-tech operation - that could be used as makeshift weapons of self-defense. Simon, gripping a branch whose loose bark flaked off under his hands, was trying to determine whether to focus his attentions on the little bouncing heads, or on the purple mass of cloth crumpled to the ground.

The thing in the hoodie, however, began to laugh- not a threatening noise, but a jovial laugh, a happy laugh, as he got to his feet. ... sort of. It was more that his head was rising back to where it was, and empty clothes were simply following suit and getting back into position for a vaguely humanoid shape. Understandably, this immediately caused the six children to snap their attention onto him.

And then the kids were the ones who were surprised, as the bouncing heads, who were yelling and cheering like a child on Christmas morning.

"Simoooon!"  
>"Emily!"<br>"Julian...!"  
>"Faris, yeooom~!"<br>"Toby!"  
>"Andrea!"<p>

And, well, if having their names yelled by weird little gumballs leaping at them wouldn't get their attention, what would?

Was it possible to be hugged by things without much in the way of arms beyond stubs? Whether or not it was, it was the best way to describe what was going on.  
>One, who had wings, was flapping excitedly to keep afloat (really, more on waist-level) next to the girl in overalls, who was trying in vain to calm it down. One, a green blob with spikes, was pulling at the legs of one of the boys, who was tall, with spiky dark hair and a bemused expression. A hopping fish-like thing was bouncing erratically around the feet of a dumbstruck boy next to this one, who bore a striking resemblance to the other, except he was shorter and had a somewhat rounder face (and, not to mention, a few shocks of hair, falling over the broad headband he wore, that were dyed green). A small sheep was nuzzling against a very short boy whose face was almost getting lost in the hood of the sweatshirt he wore while he looked like he was trying to disappear; a little cat-like puff was batting, with its tail, the girl who had kneed the hoodie monster, who had an eyebrow quirked and her arms akimbo.<p>

Simon was so busy looking at all of these that he did not notice that a furry white blob with disproportionately big claws currently had its broad arms wrapped tightly around Simon's leg.  
>In a tremendous show of dignity, once he noticed this, Simon yelped and began to hop around on one leg, waving the other leg like mad in attempts to dislodge the little furry... thing. It was to absolutely no avail; it clung like a barnacle, humming contently and refusing to let go.<p>

"What," the tall boy said, inching away from the little slimy dinosaur-esque blob at his feet, "is _going on._"

"We've waited so long, yeom~!" the little fish-like ball said, while the boy with green hair picked her up suspiciously and held her up, inspecting her. The boy looked her in the eye, brow furrowed; she licked him in the face. He was dumbstruck, she beamed... and then both of them burst into laughter.

"I'd be more than happy to explain," the purple hoodie monster said, spreading his palms wide and cocking his head to one side. "If you can promise not to try and tackle me again," he added, with a pointed look towards the girl who had tackled him.

"Find a new way to explain, then," she said dismissively, picking up the little furball rubbing up against her leg like a cat; it grinned toothily.

"Deekamon's alright," the furball said, "he's just a bit on the loony side. ... a lot on the loony side. He wouldn't hurt a Poyomon."

The girl blinked a couple times and quirked her eyebrow further, mouthing 'mon?' incredulously. Was this some kind of ridiculous verbal tic?

"But what do you mean you've been waiting?" the girl in overalls said, putting a thumb to her chin and making a thoughtful, confused expression; the bird-like puff landed on her shoulder and balanced himself carefully, cuddling up to her cheek, and she couldn't help but laugh a bit (it tickled!).

"Just what we said!" the bird-puff said. "We've been waiting forever, ever since we were born, and now you're finally here!"

"If we're going to explain this," said the purple thing (Deekamon?), "and there is a lot to explain- I would prefer to do it somewhere less... in the open. Prone to attack."

"Because _that's_ not suspicious at all," the long-haired girl said, her voice a-drip with cynicism.

It was at that moment that they heard a rumbling growl somewhere far in the distance, almost right on cue; Deekamon's head snapped up, looking in the direction of it. "... as I was saying," he said, looking expectantly to the six little blob-like creatures.  
>They seemed much more receptive to the thing's requests and commands than the kids were, and so began tugging and nodding and indicating to get going. There wasn't really much to do for it; they had no idea where they were, for one. Moreover, they did not like the sound of... whatever it was, in the distance. What better course of action was there?<br>And so the kids - with little excitable blobs in tow, and a bit reluctantly on all parts, followed as Deekamon began to lead them onto a roughly-tread path through the trees from whence he had come.

The entire way, Simon resumed trying to detach the little thing from his leg, and still absolutely failed at it.

* * *

><p>It was not a long walk; they very quickly emerged from the trees into a little clearing, along one edge of which was Deekamon's hut. Along the way, most of them kept to themselves; the two boys who shared a resemblance had mumbled conversation with eachother, but for the most part, the only sound was the little creatures being incredibly excited.<br>Once the reached the clearing, it would have been a tight fit, if not outright impossible, to try and cram all six kids, all six little bouncing heads, and Deekamon himself into the small hut, and so they didn't bother. Instead, Deekamon cleared a bit of ground, very quickly, and built a small fire. He spread his arms wide, inviting the kids to sit down; and so they did, with some trepidation, settling down into the dust. The little bouncing heads insisted on sitting on the laps of the humans they clung to, and trying to dislodge them was an effort in futility, so it was allowed.

"I'm thinking that we should, ah, introduce ourselves," Deekamon said, a bit airily. "So I don't have to refer to you by such dignified names as _kicks-me-McGee_ and _mister goggles_." He took a bow, a very overdramatic one, here. "I'm Deekamon, as my charges have told you. Now you," he said, looking expectantly to the nearest child to him in the circle they had formed around the fire.

This was the long-haired girl, and she shrugged, sitting back. She introduced herself as Andrea ("Michaels, if you care about last names, for some reason"), her tone a bit clipped, like she wasn't into playing this game. On her lap, the little fluffball introduced himself as Cindemon.

Next in the circle was the tall boy, who went by Julian LeBlanc; it seemed like he took Andrea's clipped tone as nothing short of a challenge, and was even more laconic. The dinosaur-like thing, now much calmed from the initial meeting, referred to himself by Paleomon.

Sitting astride Julian was the boy with the bits of his hair dyed green, and he quite cheerfully introduced himself as Faris Beckett. "We're brothers," he said, gesturing towards Julian, "if you couldn't tell. We don't live together- he lives with our mom, and she got remarried, so, yeah, last name wonkiness." He wiggled his fingers to imply the wonkiness. He was a downright chatterbox when compared to the previous two. The little fish-like thing called herself Finmon, and finished her sentence with a little cheerful 'yeom', inexplicably.

Halfway done, halfway to go; the girl with the two-toned hair and overalls was cheerful, as well, though a bit on the nervous, flustered side. Her name, she said, was Emily Hariss; the little bird puff was Mismon, and if he could have bowed with his total lack of real body, he would have.

The pentultimate kid was far and away the shortest of the bunch, and he looked significantly younger than the others simply by virtue of this; he seemed like he wanted to disappear into his overlarge hoodie, and tugged nervously at his sleeves as he introduced himself as Tobias - "but, uhm, I don't like being called that, call me Toby" - Moore. The little sheep-puff nuzzled against him in a comforting sort of motion, and he wasn't sure how to react; regardless, the sheep said she went by the name Fuwamon.

And this, of course, left only Simon Bell, who had no shyness and no reservations. He was keeping the little furball that was so enamored with him at bay with a short stick, but to no lasting avail; this fuball went by the moniker Efudemon, he said.

Whoof- that was a lot of names to take in.

Deekamon seemed pleased by all of this, but regardless, he took a quick head-count. "One, two, threefourfive siiix... hmm, so then I suppose plumon was right..." he mused, but shook his head and was back on-form in a moment's notice. "Welcome," he said, arms spread wide once more, "to my little corner of the Wide Forest! That's where we are."

Julian, face even, remarked: "And this doesn't explain a word of where we really are, or what's going on." Paleomon would have nodded if he had a neck.

"They're not from here, Deekamon," he said, simply and matter-of-fact. "Hmm," Deekamon said, and suddenly his tone of voice was _very_ cheerful. "Well, you're not from here; you're from there, after all. But now you're here, and not there, because you got the messages to there, to bring you here. Making sense?" He said, clapping his hands together and looking around at the group of children.  
>All six were fixing him with absolutely blank stares.<p>

He seemed to have been completely expecting this.

"You got messages, yes?" Deekamon said, looking around.

"You mean the weird blank thing on my phone?" Emily said, blinking.

"I would have figured something was wonky with that, if only because, you know, of the whole... engulfing light thing," Faris said, faux-thoughtfully.

A momentary pause ensued, before Simon said: "... okay, so, wait- you all got the weird blank text message thing, too?" He looked around, and he saw five heads nodding in mildly confused agreement.

"Great!" Deekamon said. "Then that was the message. The call to adventure, if you will. It's why you're here."

"So _where is here,_," Julian said, stressing the words and getting more than a little exasperated.

"The digital world, of course," Cindemon piped up, flicking his tail. This was yet another one of those answers that managed to clear up all of nothing for the kids; they shrugged, mouthed 'what?', or merely blinked in confusion.

"Uhm... what?" Toby said, looking down at the little sheep on his lap and frowning.

"Digital World!" Efudemon chirped from Simon's lap, cheerful as anything. "And you're from the Real World. Not that our world is any less real, of course, but more that it's made up of... well, I'm no good at explaining it, I bet Paleomon could..." he trailed off, thoughtful, and bore no mind to the fact that all of this was making the confusion for these six poor kids worse, not better.

"This is absolutely insane," Faris remarked, rolling his eyes. "I'm goin' with the theory that I hit my head, or somethin'. Or a fever dream, even though I didn't have a fever- you know what I mean..."  
>This was a lot to take in, and none of the words being thrown at them made much sense at all. Digital world? Real world? What on earth?<p>

But any explanation or questions found themselves being cut off from a sound in the trees behind Deekamon's hut- the same rumbling noise they had heard before.  
>"Whaaat on earth?" Simon mumbled, frowning, as the sound of beeping from his pocket accented the odd noise. He dug into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out the device that he could only guess had once been his cell phone. In fact, it seemed that, indeed, all six kids had similar devices, presumably of the same origin- physically identical, but adorned with different colours.<br>All of this was taking backseat to the fact that they were beeping, and their screens were starting to light up.

"The D-GEAR units! It really is them!" Efudemon squeaked excitedly.

Before anyone could ask or tell any more, the rumbling was mixed with broken branches and rustling leaves, and into the little clearing bounded a tremendous creature, far larger than the bouncing heads or Deekamon himself.  
>It was large, it was purple, and it looked like a particularly foul-tempered bear. Huge, clawed gloves on its forepaws could probably have uprooted a tree; pauldrons covered the shoulders of its forelegs. A crescent shape adorned its forehead, and teeth poked up from its lower jaw. It was spare on markings; it had lighter fur on its face and dark markings around its eyes, and slightly ligher fur on its underside, but really, aside from the gloves, shoulder armor, and colour, it could have been mistaken for a relatively normal bear. ... a relatively normal, huge bear, but still.<p>

The kids were frozen with surprise, but the little devices suddenly projected - about an inch above their screens - tiny, three-dimensional holograms of the monster that stood so close. From some unknown speaker, the little devices began to speak in an electronic, androgynous voice:

_Grizzlymon. Adult-level beast digimon. Despite its great size, it is very agile. When on its hind legs, it uses its Kuma Tsume attack, but its Maul Attack uses its enemy's strength against its attacker._

"What on earth is _going on_!?" Andrea growled, gripping the device so hard it might have broken were it less solidly constructed. Her teeth were clenched and her eyes were narrowed, but her face was surprisingly cool-expressioned.

The big bear gave a rumbling laugh, its teeth bared in a smile. It suddenly lunged forward, very quick and agile for its size - as the little electronic gizmoes had predicted - and landed on the fire, putting it out with a fizzle, placing himself between the kids and Deekamon. The kids, understandably, stood and shifted themselves to be closer to one another instead of in a circle; the little bouncing heads, in the kids' arms, had determined expressions.

"He'll be glad to hear of this, then, won't he? Look at me, finding them before they even get a start!" the bear rumbled.

"Why am I not surprised it can talk," Julian said flatly, but his body was tense.

The bear snickered and shook its body in a flurry of fur; he tapped at the ground with one large paw. "I'd like to savor this moment. Give me a moment."

"Not a chance." Cindemon was the one who spoke, as he wrenched his way out of Andrea's grip; all of the others followed suit, and each head in turn plopped down into the dust, and stood totally fearless against the bear that so dwarfed them.

"You can't tell me they're going to fight," Simon said to the person nearest him in this little cluster- Emily. Efudemon, however, heard, and turned (as best he could, while still keeping an eye on the bear). He gave the boy a snaggle-toothed smile.

"Don't worry- we got this!"

Grizzlymon laughed low, seeing the ridiculousness in this as well as the kids did; he reared on to his hind feet, but he did not notice that, behind him, a shape rose into the air- glowing a blindingly bright yellow and purple, jumping high before it smashed into the bear with a yell of:

"**Deja Vu**!"

Grizzlymon roared, and fell back to all fours. The light faded from the figure that attacked him, and once it cleared it was clearly Deekamon, with fistfuls of the bear's fur gripped tight, even as the bear began to thrash and flap Deekamon's flimsy body around like a flag in the wind. The odd humanoid creature's gaze turned to the kids and the smaller creatures, and there was a curious flash in his yellow eyes.

"Now!" he yelled, and with that he released one hand, from the bear. With this free hand, he suddenly procured six shining _somethings_ from thin air, and threw them upwards. Now, one hand was not enough to keep a solid grip on the bear, and so he was thrown off unceremoniously into the woods some yards away.

The things he had thrown shot into the sky like rockets. They were made of pure light, it seemed; they streaked up into the darkened sky before they turned around. Burning like comets, like shooting stars, they smashed into the little electronic devices the kids held. Like they had as phones, they began to glow all over.

"Oh no, not this again," Toby lamented, but even as he said this, it was clear it wasn't quite the same. The light gathered in the device, and pulsated for a moment, before shooting out, and... into the little monsters.

The moment the light hit them, the little bouncing heads were engulfed by the light, and... they began to change form, quite radically. It was almost blinding to watch, and even Grizzlymon seemed taken aback enough not to act.

"Efudemon, kickstart digivolve to..." Efudemon grew substantially in size. He grew limbs, and long floppy ears almost like a rabbit's. His tail lengthened; a mane of bushy fur sprouted from around his newly-formed neck as he took on a bipedial form. A belt was slung around one shoulder like a bandolier, and in his hand, he gripped... a paintbrush? As the light faded, and his new form stood proud, he announced: "**Egakumon**!"

"Cindemon, kickstart digivolve to..." Cindemon grew quadrupedially, instead. Long fur grew on his head and all of his limbs, while his face changed form; no longer a ball of fur, he was a small tiger. Stripes adorned his back and tail. With a clink, a golden necklace fell into place around his neck, and golden earrings fastened, one to an ear. "**Rajamon**!"

"Paleomon, kickstart digivolve to..." Paleomon was a dramatic change; he, too, took on a bipedial form, this one of a truly full-fledged dinosaur. A hard bone plate covered his forehead, and spikes ran down his back, while two bony protrusions adorned each cheek. On his hands and feet alike, there were black leather accessories - gloves and boots, lashed on with belts - and adorned with vicious claws. "**Iguamon**!"

"Mismon, kickstart digivolve to..." the little puffball of feathers, from his half-functional wings, grew clawed wing-hands; the long feather on his head split and became more akin to shaggy hair, while still being feathers, as he took on a larger, bipedal form. His tailfeathers grew, became long and vivid blue; legs and feet, not feathered but with feet covered with toeless black boots, sprouted. "**Kamomon**!"

"Finmon, kickstart digivolve to..." Finmon enlongated significantly; a second fin sprouted on her head while a dolphin-like body formed, also adorned with a dorsal fin. Her muzzle enlongated as well, much like her body. She grew no hind legs, but her front flippers became more opposable and limb-like instead of simple flippers. Her tail was broad and appropriately sea-mammal-esque; to seal the deal, goggles appeared on her forehead. "**Delfinimon**!"

"Fuwamon, kickstart digivolve to..." last but certainly not least was Fuwamon. Already having four limbs, she did not grow any more (thankfully); she took a far more refined sheep-like form. Long wool- longer even than her new body- grew on her head, and as it got longer it faded into smoke, pinkish and purplish and blueish all at once. A pink hairtie fastened her hair, and a matching collar settled around her neck while silver rings adorned her forelegs. "**Lammon**!"

Regardless of how long it took to describe these proceedings, they all happened simultaneously and in the space of seconds; the light began to fade as quickly as it had come, and then it was gone. Where not moments before were six bouncing heads, now stood six more developed creatures, each a different sort of animal and far more tough looking- even though Grizzlymon eclipsed them totally in size, it felt less lopsided.

"... you guys saw that, too, right?" Emily said, blinking a few times to make sure she wasn't imagining things.

"Kick that bear thing's face in!" Simon yelled; it was remarkable, his turnaround time on the little white fuzzy thing; if he heard Emily, he was declining to respond.

"That might be a bit much to expect," Julian remarked, but did not look away from the little group of beasties.

As though they were deaf to what the children behind them were saying, the little creatures dove forward, towards the bear, and reared back- ready for a fight.

"**Pummel Claw**!" Egakumon yelled, feinting to the side. One of his claws was encircled by a glowing light, and he sprung at Grizzlymon to strike out and stab into the bear's side. The tremendous bear, in retaliation, turned to try and get a swipe at the bunny-like creature, but he was quick, and he bounced backwards and away.

"**Ocean Blast**!" Kamomon cried, then, opening his beak wide and then, fired out a stream of water in a pressurized blast, aiming for one leg.

Simultaneously, Rajamon opened his maw with a yell of "**Prince Fire**!" Instead of water, it was a fireball that the cat spat, and it was lobbed from his mouth at the bear's other leg. With a roar, Grizzlymon reared up onto his hind legs.

Delfinimon took her chance; she quickly flopped forward, speed surprising considering she had to drag herself along on her arms, and she threw herself at one of the bear's hind legs. "**Blast Bite**!" she called, her mouth filling with crackling white light; she, appropriately enough, bit down on Grizzlymon's leg. A small explosion occurred, then, and Grizzlymon roared, while Delfinimon was thrown back - unharmed - by the force of her own attack. Grizzlymon, meanwhile, was stumbling.

Lammon was up to bat, and she ran in, striking out at his other supporting leg with her own two hind legs. "**Lamb Kick**!" she cried, a bright flash of light of light breaking out as she impacted his leg; he backed down, bowing his head and growling. He drew back one massive paw, preparing to strike...

Iguamon, having stayed back, was the last to act. "**Rock Strike**!" he announced the attack, ripping up a baseball-sized rock from the ground under his feet. He chucked it into the air, then twisted his body around to hit it with his tail. It hit its target, smashing in Grizzlymon's face.

Attack after attack struck the bear; even with a total mismatch in terms of size and power, the old cliche rung true: there's power in numbers.

But suddenly, a glowing light arose in the trees, and the six little creatures backed away, careful, bodies tense.

The light was - once again - Deekamon. Or, rather, Deekamon's arms, as it only encompassed them as he leapt out of the trees. "**Extend Arm**!" the purple creature cried, and his arms stretched like rubber, clawed hands shooting out like bullets. They struck the bear, and Grizzlymon let loose a mighty roar as he flopped off of his feet and belly-down into the dirt.  
>When Grizzlymon hit the ground, his body began to go up in blueish-white light.<p>

All six children peered, and possibly would have drawn closer, but Deekamon quickly barked:  
>"Don't touch it!"<p>

They assumed what happened next was why. When Grizzlymon's body was entirely engulfed in the light, the light gathered and shot into the sky, bits of zeroes and ones interspersed in the light. It shone like a beacon, but was quickly gone. Left in its wake, where the bear was a moment before, dropped a giant egg. It was perhaps the size of a basketball, and was in fact adorned with the colours of the beast that had attacked; purple, with a white top and a flipped crescent.

The kids were... rather understandably, quite taken aback.

Faris broke the silence as he threw himself forward, sliding on his knees into the dust to scoop Delfinimon into his arms. "That was _hardcore_!" the boy yelled, getting a better look at her now that she was much more... defined than she was as Finmon.  
>That broke the ice nicely; soon, Toby was warming up to Lammon, and she nuzzled up against him where he sat on the ground; Emily wandered around Kamomon to get a better look at him, and the bird puffed his chest out proudly as she did. Rajamon took quite the part of the cat, rubbing his sides up against her legs as he weaved around them, and she looked quite satisfied with him; Julian and Iguamon said nothing, but with a simple nod on the part of both it felt to them like words had been exchanged.<p>

Simon, for his part, was looking at Egakumon, who was beaming up at him with a grin on his furry face. And, well, Simon could only think to say one thing:  
>"Why on earth is it a paintbrush?"<p>

And so a few minutes passed; the kids and the creatures settled down after the wind-up of the battle while Deekamon started a new fire ("after my last one was so rudely put out"). Each kid was generally keeping to themself and whichever of the multicoloured beasties had chosen to hang off of them; even Faris and Julian mostly kept on their own. Once the excitement had died down, there were still a million questions bouncing around all of their heads- not least of which being the existence of said multicoloured beasts with, apparently, magical powers.

"I think we have much to discuss before the night is through," Deekamon said, clapping his hands together from the head of the reformed circle.


	2. Chapter 2: Fools Rush In

ll eyes were fixed on Deekamon, who (in turn) was looking around at the gathered. The digimon, now entirely too big to sit on their partners' laps, now took seats alongside and in front of them, perfectly content to lie on the hard ground.

It was only now that the _bizarreness_ of this situation was starting to sink in; they had been plucked out of their lives, dropped in the middle of a forest, greeted by bouncing heads, and attacked by a giant bear. This was... not normal, to say the least."You said you would... explain?" Emily said with a little lilt in her voice, about a minute passed in relative silence aside from the crackling of the fire. She was rocking back and forth a bit in her seat.

Deekamon let out a deep sigh and rubbed the back of his head. "It's a bit of a long story," he said.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Andrea said dryly, rolling her eyes. When her fellow human beings looked at her quizically, she shrugged her shoulders and continued, her voice still dripping with sarcasm: "we only got teleported by our phones into who-knows-where and fought a giant talking bear, that's pretty normal if you ask me. Kind of a step down from the giant robot dinosaurs I usually beat up after school." A sort of chuckle rippled throughout the circle; Simon noted that even Faris cracked a bit of a smile.

"Then they chose well, yes?" Deekamon said, and once again all eyes fell on him. He let out a deep breath, and began.

"This is the Digital World," he began, "made up of data. All the data in your world's computers passes through here- think, say, of an email. It's sent, and it's delivered, and it serves its purpose for you, but afterwards, it reformats itself and becomes a couple flowers here." He spread his arms wide around at the forest around him- if it took one email to create a few flowers, he seemed to be implying, imagine what it's taken to build this up.  
>"At the heart of the digital world, there lies the core of the Digital World, Yggdrasil-"<p>

"Isn't that the world tree from Norse mythology?" Julian interrupted him, here, with an eyebrow quirked.

Deekamon looked like he was raising an eyebrow at Julian in confusion; he didn't so much as respond to the boy's question before he continued. "... and around Yggdrasil are the Sovereigns." Deekamon procured a stick from the ground, and traced in the dirt at his feet right next to the fire. He drew a crude tree of life and a few forms therearound.

"The Sovereigns are Zhuqiaomon to the south, Ebonwumon to the north, Azulongmon to the east, Baihumon to the west, and Huanglongmon in the middle." He indicated each of these on his diagram with a point of a claw. "Everything that happens is the decision of the five Sovereigns, and is set into motion by Yggdrasil. For instance," and he paused for dramatic effect, "summoning people from other worlds." He looked up now; the Digimon looked as though they had heard this story a hundred times before (and it was likely, in fact, that they had). The children, meanwhile, exchanged glances and shrugs and murmurs, with varying levels of confusion and worry.. Deekamon wasted no time in continuing.

"A hundred years ago," he said, waving one hand as though he were wiping away the previous topic to make room for a new one, "something invaded. Called himself Era." His face (or, what could be seen of his face) fell a bit. "He's taken over most of the digital world. Only about a fourth of it is still under its original order. That's where Grizzlymon came from, he was one of Era's agents, I think, in this area."  
>Deekamon seemed unable to sit still; he got up and walked over to the egg that had been dropped when Grizzlymon had been defeated. He picked it up, and brought it back to his seat. "I don't think he'll remember anything of it when he hatches again," he added thoughtfully, tilting his head a bit, before he shook said head and returned to the subject. "They're patrolling around, almost all the time."<p>

"When we were still looking for you," Rajamon cut in, a bit snidely, "Deekamon kept sending us places to see if you'd appear. We kept thinking we'd get pinned by agents."

"But we didn't!" Egakumon snapped back, putting his hands on his hips.

Before a fight could erupt, Deekamon kept talking. "The point _is_ that Era has tight surveillance over anywhere he controls. Like here, for instance."

Faris looked around, and then piped up: "... why do you make your base here, then?" he said, blinking a couple times. Delfinimon looked up at him.

"Because he says there's enough resistance where he still doesn't control, yeom?" She waved her tailfin a bit, and smiled. "Like, fight from inside? Sucker-punch 'em when you're sitting in their trachea~!"

Deekamon nodded at the dolphin-like monster. "What she said. We have plenty of fighters on the continents and areas he doesn't control yet, enough that it wouldn't make a difference- at least," he said, looking around, "not yet."  
>He folded his arms, and looked around expectantly.<p>

"... so you mean to tell us," Julian said, speaking slow as though to carefully pick his words, "that we got dragged into another world _inside our computers_, in order to run around beating things up."

Though it may have been meant as a joke, Deekamon shrugged. "I suppose you could put it that way, if you wanted to." he said.

Toby looked as though he were deliberating something, looking down at Lammon, before he looked back at the hoodied creature at the head of the circle. "So... um... why us, then?" he said, looking around. He shook his head. "I mean, most of us don't know eachother, I don't think. I don't think we have much in common, either."  
>The digimon looked at eachother- Deekamon and partners all. After a second, each digimon turned to their partner.<p>

"Um, we... don't exactly know. Yet!" Kamomon said, adding the last word as though he were flustered.

"We're sure the Sovereigns know what they're doing," Lammon said rather quickly, as though to dispel any doubt. She looked up at Toby, then around at the others.

"Their decisions are foreign to us." Iguamon spoke very simply, standing up next to where Julian sat.

"Deekamon doesn't even know!" Egakumon continued, waving his paintbrush in the air.

"Not that that says much..." Rajamon grumbled, but shrugged as best a four-legged creature could. "We'll find out with time, I'm sure."

"We just know we were born to meet you- so you're special, yeom!" Delfinimon beamed after she finished speaking, chirruping her little vocal tic.

Deekamon chuckled, but stood up. "Now," he said, looking around. "Do you remember those things I gave your digimon? The things that made them grow bigger, I mean..." He waited until he got a few nods of affirmation, before he continued. "That was their Potential," he said, spreading his arms. A digimon usually only grows so much over its life. They're still quite young, but when partnered with a child..." Deekamon indicated the gathered individuals. "A lot more can happen, once you know how to utilize it."

"Digivolution!" Kamomon exclaimed, striking a dramatic pose.

"We can keep changing," Iguamon elaborated, and a smile tugged at his mouth. "Usually, we get bigger. Change form, become stronger. And with a partner, we don't have to wait until we change naturally."

"But it's only temporary," Deekamon took care to point out, but nodded his head once. "If you'll look at your D-GEAR units..."

"D-GEARs, huh?" Faris said, pulling the little electronic device out of his pocket, poking at it. "Hey, look, Delfinimon, it matches you!" And he was right- its top colour, at least, was a sort of rich teal, much the same colour as Delfinimon's skin. (The underside was silver, but Faris only noted the first colour.)

"_D-GEAR units_," the purple monster chided, putting his arms akimbo. "Digitally-Generated Electronic Area Reader unit. They have powers that let them... break a few rules now and then." Deekamon strolled over to Toby and held his hand out; Toby, on cue, placed his own D-GEAR - this one black and white - into the digimon's hand. As soon as it was in his grasp, the human-shaped digimon gave a solid tug to the small hook-like tab on the bottom left; it slid out of the device and held it up.  
>What he held was something like a small bit of plastic - roughly the size of a dog-tag, and looking like a square plastic "loop". In the empty space, however, it was shining- brilliant white and blue, looking like a microns-thick layer of glowing binary rushing by in every direction.<p>

"This is a Virtue," he said. "It's what's going to allow your partners to digivolve as fast as they'll need to."

Deekamon held it aloft long enough for those gathered to get a good look at it, and then slid it back into the boy's D-GEAR and handed it back.

"Yours is Trust, Toby," Lammon said as she looked up at her partner, a serene smile crossing her face. Toby, for his part, was turning the device over in his hand, inspecting it carefully.

Andrea paused, and looked around at the others. "... so then what's everyone else's?" she asked, almost as one, the digimon began answer her question.

"Bravery," Rajamon said, nodding once at Andrea.

"Adaptability," Iguamon said to Julian; Julian merely nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Dedication!" Kamomon all but leapt to his feet to make another dramatic pose, pointing at the sky; Emily laughed.

"Humor, yeom!" Delfinimon clapped her front fins together as though she were a seal, grinning.

"And you?" Simon said with a wry smile, looking at the rabbit-like creature in front of him. Egakumon grinned and gave him a big thumbs-up.

"Honor!"

Deekamon took his place sitting down again. "I think I've told you all I can," he admitted, closing his yellow eyes slowly. "I assume you've got questions, still?"  
>From the resounding chatter he recieved in return, he could assume he was right. "Aah, ahh!" he half-yelled, waving his arms to try and get attention back. "I told you, I've told you all I can. But I have a suggestion!" With bated breath, the digimon and humans alike waited for his answer. He seemed to be waiting just for the sake of dramatics, as he let a short while pass before he spoke further.<p>

"You could try to go see Wisemon," Deekamon said after he figured that he had waited long enough.

Even Egakumon seemed a bit uneasy at the suggeston.

"... who the heck is Wisemon?" Faris asked after a second, blinking a couple times.

"A sage digimon," Lammon said, looking over at the boy. "But... he's kind of strange."

"Kind of?" Rajamon said, raising an eyebrow. "The guy's loonier than Deeka."

Deekamon took the remark in stride. He looked around, but suddenly he paused. "... wait a second."  
>Suddenly, in his hand, there appeared another glowing ball of light like had appeared when he caused their partners to grow.<br>He threw it into the air; it shot up, like a tiny bolt of lightning. All eyes were on it as it flew up. It came to rest in the sky for a moment, before it suddenly shot off like a dart in the night, leaving a vivid trail behind it.

"The last one is that way, then," Deekamon said, pointing after it. "A ways off, it seems..." He seemed to furrow his brow. "I don't know why he didn't appear with you..."

"The last one?" Julian asked evenl

"There are supposed to be seven of you," he said with a sigh. "But the last one didn't appear with you... I suppose it's because Plumon is gone."

"Plumon," Kamomon hopped in to explain, was one of us. She went missing one day, though... we don't know what happened to her, but we'd know if Era had caught her- she'd be destroyed. That's why Grizzlymon appeared."

"But I still had her Potential- until now," Deekamon elaborated, still looking up. "If she had been deleted, it would have faded... but wherever she is, it went to her -it wouldn't do that if her partner wasn't here - and I think she needs it more than I do ... you need to look for her, and her partner." He turned to the children.

"What about their D-GEAR units?" Egakumon said, hopping to his feet.

Deekamon nodded. "You have a map on them- they should be able to home in on other D-GEAR units, when you're within a reasonable distance. It's on the map."

With a clamor, all six children looked at their D-GEAR units and slid them open; indeed, one of the buttons on the lower panel read 'map' in blocky letters. It found itself clicked, and all around, there sprung to life three-dimensional projections of a planet around the D-GEARs.  
>It looked like earth, to a degree- but the continents were completely rearranged. Huge, vast spans of ocean existed, as did unreasonably huge continents and land-masses. The poles were frozen, and one could almost imagine that someone had cut and paste a number of environments- mountain ranges were smacked next to huge planes, a barren sandy deserted shared a border with a vast forest.<br>"Whoa," Faris exclaimed.

Indeed, in the heart of the huge forest, there blinked a point. When Emily reached out to touch hers, it magnified the area; the others noted and did the same. Eventually, they could make out five little dots flashing in one tiny corner of the forest.

"Sweet," Simon said, looking at it. However, he frowned; he noted, as did the others it seemed, that there was no seventh dot.

"Plumon and her partner may not even be on this continent," Deekamon said, sounding a bit dejected. "I can't follow you."  
>Even Rajamon looked a little dejected, though with the air of someone who knew this was coming.<p>

"What? Why?" Emily asked, looking over at the strange digimon.

"I have to hold down the fort here, such as it is. But..." Even as he spoke, Deekamon stood up and walked into his hut. For a second, there was nothing but the sound of crickets - the kids almost assumed they were something like _cricketmon_ - before Deekamon walked back out. In his hand, he held a handful of what appeared to be memory cards for a digital camera.  
>"You act like I'd leave you alone," he said, mirth showing in his eyes.<p>

"Where on earth do you get all of this stuff, Deekamon?" Egakumon asked, blinking slowly. "... and what are those?"

"I have my places, and communicator chips," the hoodie-wearing monster said. "Give me your D-GEAR units." The children did as they were told; Deekamon flipped open on each a tiny port, and popped one chip into each of their devices. "If you need me - or if I need you, for that matter..." he paused, and seemed to think for a moment. However, he shook his head and returned to reality.  
>"You should find a communicate option on your units. They'll hook to me, first and foremost, I believe... but who knows, see if you can find anyone else that accept it."<br>As Deekamon distributed the devices back out, he handed a seventh chip to Simon. "Give it to the seventh when you find them, yes?"

Simon blinked and nodded; he stowed both D-GEAR and the communicator chip in his pocket. "So... do we go, now? To look for whats-his-guts?"

"No," Emily said before anyone could say anything else. When everyone turned to look at her, she said: "Well, it's late, isn't it?"

A slow murmur of 'oh, yeah...' rose, as they looked up at the sky; the sky had gone dark, and a considerable _number_ of moons in varying shades were rising over various parts of the sky.

"... is it safe to sleep out here?" Toby asked, frowning a bit. "If we get attacked again, we'll all be asleep, I mean."

"You've got us!" Egakumon blurted, grinning as he brandished his paintbrush like a sword.

"Aw, yeah!" Simon said right after, pumping his fist into the air. "We've got these little monster things, don't we? They thrashed that bear-thing, they got it covered!"

Despite their somewhat over-enthusiastic approach, the kids didn't want to disagree- they were tired, and they had gone through entirely too much in the past few hours. It was enough to border on ridiculous, really.

A number of hours later, the kids and their partners were strewn throughout the area right around Deekamon's hut, sleeping; Andrea was sleeping against a tree, arms behind her head, with Rajamon curled up next to her. Emily and Kamomon sat up against the hut itself; Toby was using Lammon as a pillow not far from where he had sat in the circle around the fire. Faris and Delfinimon slept on the ground, and Julian slept leaned back on a stump with Iguamon close by, while Deekamon slept inside of his hut.  
>This, of course, meant that Simon and Egakumon had foregone sleep.<p>

Sitting in a tree, Simon rested, but did not sleep. One leg hung over the side of the bough; Egakumon was on a branch on the tree opposite him, in much the same posture, but with his eyes closed, and reclining with his hands behind his head.

"So is this really happening?" Simon asked, looking at the rabbit.

"Best I know," Egakumon said, before he cracked one eye open, smiling. "Man, we're so glad you guys are finally here."

Simon smirked. "Man, hard to think that just a few hours ago I was being yelled at by my sister." He looked up at the sky- the many moons between the sparkling stars and the ripples of binary code just looked too surreal.

Ekagumon sat up, grinning. "I know, innit cool?"

"I still don't get why it has to be a paintbrush, though."

At that, the rabbit puffed up. "Hey, just wait until I digivolve," he said, making a grandiose gesture with the hand that didn't hold the brush. "Just wait!"

Simon smiled and rolled his eyes. He _totally_ got the best partner. Regardless, he cast a sideways look to the others in the little clearing, and then up to the sky. The fading stream of light was still there, faint "Hey, Egakumon."

"Yeah?"

"What direction is that? The one that the light went off in, I mean."

Egakumon heaved himself to a sitting-upright position, and thought for a moment. He followed the line, and put a hand to his chin in contemplation. "It's going west, I think. It's headed towards the Great Ocean, if I remember right."

Simon nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. "... there's so much stuff, here," he said, and without a word, he suddely stood up on the tree branch. With a little "Hup!", he jumped down to the ground.

"Si, what are you doing?" Egakumon asked in a sort of whisper-yell, blinking. He didn't sound admonishing- really, more curious.

"I wanna take a look around, y'know? This place seems _wicked_. And you know the place better than I do... wanna show me around a bit?"

Egakumon didn't even listen for the request- he hopped down out of the tree and landed next to his parnter, grinning. "It's great havin' someone who doesn't worry about it all the time," he said.

* * *

><p>And so they went; Egakumon went about, pointing out things- little landmarks, where things happened in the past. "And over there is where we all hatched," he pointed out around a cracked boulder, once. It got darker and darker as they walked. Perhaps they took a turn or two wrong; regardless, eventually...<p>

"And now... ... I have no idea where we are!"

"I thought you said this thing had a map?" Simon asked, poking aimlessly at the little device in his hand, to no avail.

"Just admit it, Si, we're lost."

"We're not _lost_," Simon protested, frowning as he fiddled with the buttons on his D-GEAR. However, he was stopped dead in his clicking when a third voice chimed in:

"_Oh, but I think you are_."

Simon and Egakumon whipped around to look; stalking out of the trees behind them was a great white creature, with sprawling angel wings and gangly arms. Metal bands and silver belts were lashed all around it; an X-shaped metal mask covered its eyes. Its body seemed entirely too thin, and its arms far too long. A bent blue tail accented claws of a similar hue, and its crooked mouth was dragged back in an awful smile.

Simon's D-Gear sprung to life, creating a holographic image of the thing before them as it began to speak.

_Gargoylemon. Adult-level demon beast digimon. A Devidramon whose restraints have tamed the raging demon inside. The X and O on its arms represent right and wrong. It creates statues with its Black Wing and White Wing attacks, and throws them at its enemies._

"Crap," Simon said, staring at the beast at it lumbered forward, hooking the D-GEAR onto his pocket.

"I got this!" Egakumon said, much in the way he had said against the Grizzlymon. He narrowed his eyes at the dragon-like creature. "What do you want?"

"I heard that Grizzlymon got defeated," Gargoylemon sneered, flapping its feathered wings once. "I don't suppose you'd know anything about that?" His voice dripped with sarcasm, and Egakumon's lip curled.

"You're one of Era's agents, aren't you!"

Gargoylemon let out a hearty laugh, rearing back. "Aren't you a bright one?" he asked, snickering. "Grizzlymon was a fool, he tried to attack you all at once. One at a time should be far easier, no?"

Egakumon frowned, and wielded his brush as though it were a sword. "Not a chance!" For a second, Gargoylemon seemed confused, but began to laugh again.

"Oh, and the first one I find fights with a _paintbrush_! Too easy!" Once Gargoylemon got over his giggles, he looked (he assumed, as his eyes weren't visible) at Simon. "How about this: once I delete the little _Picassomon_, you just show me the way back, and I won't delete you, too!"

Egakumon furrowed his brown deeply, and yelled out before the enemy finished his proposition:

"**Magic Brush**!" The tip of his brush began to glow white, and with it, he painted a symbol in the air as though the empty space was a canvas. With a few quick strokes, he painted a curious symbol. For a moment, it hung in the air, shining with every colour of the spectrum, before it flew at Gargoylemon.

He faltered back a few steps, but it only seemed to anger him once he re-gained his footing. One lip curled, before he extended his arms above his head and spread his wings wide:

"**White Wing**!"  
>In the air above his hands, a number of statues- seemingly of human angels - appeared, glowing in a mass of energy. There was no time to admire, however, as before he even finished calling his attack, they were thrown straight at Egakumon.<p>

"Yaghk!" the little rabbit exclaimed as he was knocked backwards, tumbling into Simon and nearly knocking the boy's knees out from under him.

"Heck, man! You guys could only take on Grizzlymon when there were six of you, why are you-" Simon was interrupted when the clearly-dazed Egakumon picked himself to his feet. He didn't listen to a word Simon said, but instead rushed in with his non-brush-holding hand glowing bright.

"**Pummel Claw**!" With a great leap, Egakumon managed to land a hit on Gargoylemon, who once more stumbled back- and this time, didn't even resort to attacks as he simply smacked the smaller digimon away with his hand, once more sending him towards Simon.

"Fah! I'm not going to be taken down by a child-level," Gargoylemon sneered, his hands beginning to glow. Simon grabbed a hold of Egakumon before he could leap again.

"Don't be stupid, bro!" he said, grabbing the rabbit's arm tightly.

"Hey!" Egakumon said, twisting his neck around to look at his partner. "I'm not gonna give in _now_! Only the second real battle I've ever got to be in, y'know!"

Simon frowned, and opened his mouth to speak...  
>But all of a sudden was struck by a memory- his sister yelling at him for getting involved in a fight with a couple of older children. He had gotten absolutely creamed, of course, and it was a lost cause to fight... but that feeling came flooding back.<p>

_"Simon, you're going to get yourself killed like that! You need to learn to-" _

_"Sarah, no! I'm not gonna let them think I'm afraid of them!" _

_"So you're going to let them beat your face in? Way to go there, Si." _

_"It's not like that! You- you just don't get it!" _

_"Ugh, fine. I'm telling mom and she'll tell you the same thing, but whatever, if you want a broken nose..." _

_And fight back he did- a little whirlwind, backed into a corner. Sure, he may have had to just about kick their kneecaps out to do it, and had still gotten absolutely clobbered the next day... _

_But it was the principle of the thing!_

From its place hooked on his pocket, Simon's D-GEAR began to glow for the who-knows-how-manyth time that day.

_**Kickstart Digivolution, begin.**_

Once more, the light spilled out of the screen and right into Egakumon.

"..." Simon was dumbstruck, staring as his partner changed _yet again_.

"Egakumon, kick-start digivolve to..." Bathed in white light, Egakumon grew to about four-feet-tall; his body grew less pear-shaped. His arms slendered down but became covered with long fur, and his ears became thinner and stood up instead of flopping. Clawed boots formed over his feet, and his tail grew to be far-longer and tipped with more fur. A bandanna appeared around his neck, his belt moved to around his waist, and his snout tapered more.  
>And he still wielded a paintbrush.<p>

"**Shokunimon**!"

Gargoylemon seemed unimpressed. "So you're a bit taller and look less like a teddy-bear," he said, shrugging. "You're still a rabbit with a paintbrush! **White Wing**!"

This time, Egakum- Shokunimon leapt into the air, leaping up over the canopy of leaves, neatly avoiding the attack. On the return trip down, he suddenly did a forward-somersault in mid-air, and yelled out a new attack name:  
>"<strong>Tumble Kick<strong>!"  
>He spun around just in time for his clawed-boot-adorned foot to smash straight into Gargoylemon's head. The monster snarled and crumbled to the ground, but did not lose consciousness; he hit the ground and did a somersault of his own, smashing into (and taking out) a tree in the process.<p>

"You think that's enough!" he roared, and kicked himself off the ground, ripping up through the leaves and taking flight.

"Stay here," Shokunimon said quickly to Simon, and leapt up after his opponent.

"Was planning on it," Simon said in a small voice as he watched. Shokunimon seemed to know what he was doing... Gargoylemon was swooping back down through the leaves to attack, and Shokunimon met him half-way in the air with a battle cry. Simon gave a yell of alarm as Gargoylemon grabbed on to the rabbit and held him close, digging his claws in as his wings flapped.

"You even came to me, you stupid thing!" Gargoylemon snarled, clawing viciously into the rabbit's sides.

"You'd like to think that," Shokunimon growled, maneuvering his brush to be into his enemy's stomach. "**Paint Blast**!"

From the paintbrush's tip there spewed a huge amount of fluorescently-coloured paint; Gargoylemon let loose a howl and dropped Shokunimon to the ground. The rabbit landed with a bit of a thud, but he tumbled and seemed to be unharmed.  
>Both Simon and Shokunimon watched after Gargoylemon as he flew away as fast as he could, snarling and growling all the way. Simon was so busy watching that he didn't notice that Shokunimon was bathed in white light again; it started to gather into orbs, and dissipated from the Shokunimon form, leaving Egakumon in his smaller form once more.<p>

"That..." Simon said, looking to his side (and taking a double take as he saw his partner having shrunk again), "was _so hardcore_."

They couldn't celebrate, though- from behind them, there was a rustling of leaves. The two whipped around, battle-ready, to see, emerging from the trees-

Deekamon.

"What's going on?" the hoodied creature asked, blinking a couple times. He seemed to have been woken up from his sleep, but didn't seem angry.

"It was _so cool_, Deeka!" Egakumon cheered, grinning as he threw his hands up in celebration. "This big brute showed up, and he was like 'grrr'..."

Deekamon chuckled and turned around, motioning for Simon and Egakumon to follow him- the pair wasted no time in doing so. It was a bit of a hike back to the hut, but Ekagumon was sure to narrate the battle blow-for-blow to keep things lively.

"Deekamon," Simon said as Egakumon was re-telling the story the third time.

"Mmm?"

"Why didn't that thing turn into an egg, like Grizzlymon did?" Simon said, thinking back.

"Well, Grizzlymon was very weak to begin with, I think," Deekamon theorized, stopping to talk to the boy for a moment. "Era's agents don't always get along so well," he elaborated, shrugging his shoulders, "but I can't be sure. Or perhaps it was the fact that we had seven digimon versus one!" He beamed from behind his hoodie.

Well, it sounded sound enough to Simon, after he remembered that Deekamon had taken part in the fight as well. He nodded. "Yeah."

Egakumon, meanwhile, tapped his foot. "So can we get back to the camp, now?" he said with no small bit of impatience in his voice, grinning wide still. "I gotta tell the others about this."


	3. Chapter 3: The Search Begins

Morning rose over the little camp around Deekamon's hut. It didn't take much to get anyone up- they all, human and digimon alike, seemed to be pumped full of adrenaline, and so came to just as soon as the sun's rays peeked over the trees. (Mostly. Faris and Delfinimon had to be shot with a bit of water from Kamomon before they got up.)

Just as he had said he would, Egakumon - as soon as everyone was at least half-awake - sprang into a spirited re-telling of his and Simon's experiences the day before. He darted around like a little furry pinball, over-exagerating a few elements of the story (mostly his own heroism, and dragging out the battle a bit more than it had actually gone on for). Simon chose not to comment on these little falsehoods. After all, he had been in a state of half-shock- it wasn't every day, after all, that... this happened, and it seemed to be quite a big deal to the little monster. Even Rajamon seemed to be grudgingly impressed.

The joviality only lasted for so long; Deekamon stood in the center of his clearing, and cleared his throat for attention.

"I hate to rush you off so soon," he said, "but keeping you here would defeat the purpose of why you were brought here, yes?"

The digimon leapt to their feet (and Egakumon started merely hopping from foot to foot in place instead of running around like a madmon) as Deekamon spoke.

"Parting ways, huh?" Faris said as he stretched out, clambering to his feet in turn and shaking himself vigorously to rid himself the water that remained on him.

"You're not a dog," Andrea remarked from where she stood, sighing, "can you at least put on the pretense of civilization?"

Faris gave her a sort of hurt, defensive look, but it Deekamon seemed to be proficient at nipping fights short in the bud- or just had really good timing.

"Wisemon lives... I don't think there's any easy way to say this," he said, pointing to the west, "to the west."

The digimon groaned, but a sort of confused murmur began among the children; Toby punctuated it best, perhaps, with a bewildered look around and a mutter of "why is that hard to say?".

Egakumon pulled on Simon's sleeve. "That's where I said the Great Ocean was, remember?" he whisper-yelled.

Deekamon nodded. "If you didn't catch Egakumon's comment... if Wisemon hasn't moved - and I doubt he has - Sagemon lives out near the Great Ocean." A pause. "... in it."

"Augh, that guy's loonier than... ... something that's really loony," Delfinimon groaned.

"A sack of peanuts?" Kamomon provided helpfully, and shrugged. "I don't know, just sounded funny."

"Sure, that!" the dolphin said, waving one fin in the air. "Ugh, why couldn't he live somewhere normal?"

"... Delfinimon?" Lammon ventured, blinking. "You're a dolphin. Practically a fish."

"... shut up, yeom."

"Not only that, though," Deekamon cut back in, taking these constant distractions quite well, "the Great Ocean is in Era's domain, like here in the forest. You're going to have to be careful." He may have cast a sideways glance at Simon and Egakumon on that- or he might not have, it was hard to tell. "Travelling, you might make a bit of an easy target. Be on your guards, and for the love of Huanglongmon, contact me if something goes wrong."

"Yeah, yeah,_ mom,_" Emily said with a good-natured roll of her eyes and a smile. "We will."

Deekamon nodded his head, and looked around him. He shaded his eyes and looked up at the sky. "The sooner you leave, the better," he announced, "not to seem like I'm chasing you off, of course! I'd just rather I hurry you out than you get literally chased out by who-knows-what."

With a shuffle, the children went to making sure nothing of theirs had gone missing; D-GEAR units in hand, all of their clothes and things in their pockets intact. Simon adjusted his hat and goggles, and smiled.

"Onward, yeah?"

Andrea came up beside him and smirked a bit. "I think you should lead the way," she said, "since you've been so kind as to explore the area already."

"Snippy comments aren't going to do any good for any of us," Julian remarked, putting his gloved hands in his pockets. Iguamon looked up at his partner, and nodded.

"You ready to go, Julian?" the dinosaur said simply; he got another simple nod in return from the human.

A look around the camp garnered, in its own ways, similar reactions from the others- that is, very nicely paired. Toby and Lammon were serenely checking around the area together; Faris and Delfinimon were cracking jokes at one another; Emily and Kamomon were chattering excitedly about getting to sea the ocean and starting an adventure; and of course, Simon and Egakumon were still acting as energetic as they had been up until now.

"I think," Andrea said, looking down at Rajamon- who was rubbing against her legs like the over-sized cat he was, "that these partnerships weren't arbitrary."

"Of course not," the feline said, sitting down and flicking his tail. "Like we said earlier, we've all been waiting for years to meet you. You have no idea what it's like to spend years running this way and that, because Deekamon kept predicting things, and bunny-boy decided he got to be the leader."

"Sounds like a time," the girl remarked, smiling. Rajamon batted her leg with his tail, and stretched out.

Once everyone was in order, it was all but a march out of the camp; the digimon waved Deekamon enthusiastic goodbyes and yelled their thanks. It only made sense, one could suppose, considering how long they had spent with him... even if everyone sans Egakumon thought he was a talkative loon.

And off they went.

* * *

><p>They were an unruly mob, to be nice of it; what with six kids and six digimon, one couldn't expect much more. Simon and Egakumon tended to the front, as did Andrea and Rajamon, while Julian with Iguamon stayed back more; Kamomon, enjoying more-functional-than-before wings, was gliding a foot or two above most of the kids' heads, while Emily watched. Meanwhile, Lammon was following Delfinimon, the latter of whom was having a bit of a hard time getting used to mobility that was more than simple bouncing, rather having to drag herself along with flippers. Faris was striking up conversation about something or another with Toby.<p>

It was about thirty minutes later - all kept along the dusty path - that the children began to really appreciate their surroundings- and the oddity of their situation.

They had all seemed to have taken it so well, but it was starting to set in now what had occurred, just in the past twelve (give or take) hours. Transported to another world - which, for all they knew, looked like a forest. They had been teleported into this world by cellphones, and partnered up with a bunch of talking head monsters that turned into bigger monsters that fought really big monsters, complete with special effects.

This was like some bad cartoon.

"So this is still familiar territory, right?" Emily asked up to Kamomon, who smiled and nodded.

"We've got a ways to go, yet... though we're pretty much in the heart of the forest," the bird added thoughtfully. "It might take us quite a while to get to the Great Ocean - days, even, especially with how fast you seem to be able to walk, yes?"

"Well excuse us," Faris said in reply to the seagull, putting his arms akimbo, but smiling. "We don't have wings, or anything like that."

"At least you have feet," Delfinimon quipped, waggling one of her flippers, to which her partner chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Okay, granted."

"... we should be getting to the village, soon," Rajamon said, suddenly, sniffing at the air; as he did so, the group came to a halt.

"... village?" Andrea asked, blinking a few times.

"The Flora-Palmon village is the one 'round here, right?" Egakumon asked, shouldering his paintbrush with a look around.

"... Flora-Palmon village?" Toby said. "Um, could you explain?"

"All over the Digital World, digimon make little settlements, you see," Lammon began, nodding. "Usually just one or two types of digimon, when it's smaller ones..."

"But bigger ones are like biiiig cities with all kinds of digimon, yeom!" Delfinimon said, spreading her fins wide to indicate scale.

"There aren't many of those on the Wide Forest continent, admittedly," stated Iguamon, "though ever since Era took over he's been trying to instate more, I understand it."

"For some reason he thinks it's a good idea to put cities in a forest area, go figure," Rajamon said with a little roll of his eyes; they probably would have continued, had not Julian stepped in to the conversation.

"You're going off topic a bit."

With a sort of chuckle and sheepish grins, the digimon coughed and tried to pretend that little digression had never happened; for an awkward moment, they seemed to be deciding who was going to speak first.

"But very near here," Kamomon said, breaking the ice, "there's a little village of these digimon called Floramon and Palmon - like plants - and their two leaders, Vegiemon and Woodmon. As far as we know, Era hasn't bothered them yet. They're sort of..."

There was a slight pause as the bird searched for a word, landing on the ground next to Emily. "... reclusive?"

Nobody seemed to notice the ivy starting to grip at the ground around them, creeping closer and closer towards the feet of the kids and digimon alike... until Faris gave a yelp and a cry, kicking his foot out... and falling straight to the ground as a tendril yanked the other foot out from under him.

Suddenly, the ivy seemed to be everywhere- on every digimon's foot, even around Delfinimon's tail and wrists. From gasps to yelps to outright shouts, not one of the twelve stayed silent - with good reason, too - as they were dragged into the trees on the side of the path.

Nobody seemed to notice the ivy starting to grip at the ground around them, creeping closer and closer towards the feet of the kids and digimon alike... until Faris gave a yelp and a cry, kicking his foot out... and falling straight to the ground as a tendril yanked the other foot out from under him.

Suddenly, the ivy seemed to be everywhere- on every digimon's foot, even around Delfinimon's tail and wrists. From gasps to yelps to outright shouts, not one of the twelve stayed silent - with good reason, too - as they were dragged into the trees on the side of the path.

Okay, perhaps into the trees wasn't the right phrase- they were dragged, it seemed, into the ground, into a wide, steep, and above-all dark tunnel hidden under the carpet of foliage.

This place was just full of surprises.

* * *

><p>"What the heck is this, the kiddy-slide from-!" Faris was exclaiming from somewhere as they were dragged by their ankles down, before he got soundly cut off with a thump as they all hit a flat surface.<p>

On the bright side, the ivy tendrils unwound from their legs and seemed to retreat.'

On the significantly less-bright side, it was pitch-black.

"Guys, where the heck are- augh!"

"That was my foot!"

"Yeah, and that was my ear!"

"Step off my arm!"

"Wark! Someone's siting on my tailfeathers!"

"Frig! Where'd my hat go!"

"Ow! Okay, watch the claws!"

"Egakumon, get your paintbrush out of my ribs, please?"

It was an almost-cartoony scramble as the kids and their partners fumbled around in the dark. However, all of a sudden, a dull, flickering red-orange light - lanterns on the wall - flooded the room, just as Simon jammed his beanie hat back onto his head.

"Okay, what the..." Emily murmured, looking around.

It seemed to be a cavern haphazardly dug out of dirt and rock, with jagged dusty walls, like a giant rabbit warren. Small tunnels ran off here and there, but straight ahead was the only tunnel large enough for anyone larger than a kindergardener to pass through.

"Welcome to Wonderland," Julian remarked dryly, looking around. "How is this thing supported...?"

"I think the question is more of 'who made it'," Andrea said.

Iguamon paused and placed one hand on the nearest wall. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that it was the village."

Lammon blinked a couple times, looking over at the dinosaur. "You think?" the sheep asked, tilting her head. "But why would they move down here?"

"Yeah, aren't they... y'know... plants?" Simon said, adjusting his goggles. "Like, you'd think they need sunlight and all that stuff.

Kamomon shrugged, but he seemed uncomfortable. "I don't like it, at any rate. I don't like closed places and things like that," the seagull said, shuffling a bit.

Further conversation was stilled as from either side, there was a rustling, and out emerged a number of creatures. Both of them were about the size of the partner digimon, and they were split roughly half and half.

The first was green and reptilian, with spikes and a tail on its back and a great, blooming pink flower on its head. Its arms looked like clawed leaves, and its feet like roots. Its eyes were shiny, and its teeth poked out of a crooked smile.

The others were, similarly, green and reptilian, with green roots for feet and purple flowers for hands. Their yellow heads were covered by a helmet of red petals, with a frill of red leaves around its neck.

For some reason, the kids' D-GEAR units remained dormant; perhaps it was because the digimon gathering didn't look hostile.

"Psttt, what are these ones?" Toby whispered.

It seemed that the gathering digimon heard the boy; one of the digimon with a flower-helmet swept one arm wide, the other on its chest. "We're Floramon."

"And we're Palmon," one of the leaf-armed ones said, bowing.

Delfinimon stuck her head around Faris' legs to get a better look at them. "The ones from the village?" The plant digimon nodded, in near-unison. "Okay, that was kinda creepy..."

"Shh," Egakumon said, putting a claw to his mouth in a shushing motion. Rajamon stepped forward, in front of the rabbit.

"Why are you underground, and why did you bring us down?" the cat asked, looking around with inscrutable expression.

One of the Floramon stepped forward. "Woodmon told us to," she said, motioning down the tunnel. "He hasn't told us what he wants, but he wants to see you."

"We're supposed to escort you," one of the Palmon added, making his way behind the group followed by a number of others of his kind. As a unit, they funneled their way into the passage, having to thin down to the humans walking alongside their partners, with little room for any else. Julian, being the tallest, had to duck down a bit to avoid bumping his head.

"So we set off, and in the first hour we get attacked by a bunch of plant-men, this is gonna be a long journey." Faris remarked, but was quickly shushed, in turn, by Emily.

"It's going to be longer, I bet, if you make them mad," she said in a low voice. Faris seemed to get the point, and mimed zipping his mouth closed.

"This couldn't have been here the last time we were here... I would have noticed," Iguamon mused, looking around. "That was just a couple weeks ago, wasn't it?" The dinosaur looked behind him, at Delfinimon and Lammon, for affirmation; both nodded.

"Whether or not that's true," Andrea remarked, looking around, "it's pretty killer, anyway."

And it was- the fact that it could have been carved out in just a couple weeks was just the icing on the cake. The flickering, otherworldly red lights gave a sort of ambiance to the tunnels as they were led through by a bunch of sentient plants.

Before it could be ruminated upon further, however, the tunnel opened up into a wider hall; a handful of Palmon and Floramon milled about, tending to the lights and small blobby digimon. If anyone cared to look up, they would notice that the roof of the roo was at least partially supported by the roots of a number of trees, intertwining and at points sticking out of the ceiling, even coming down as columns further into the ground.

Further ahead in the room sat a digimon that, on first glance, looked for all the world like any of the other tree roots forming support pillars, until one noticed the bright blue eyes and jagged mouth. Two long branch-like limbs extended from its body, and further in front of those were smaller arms equipped with gnarled hands. Four root-like extensions served for feet, and on closer inspection, it looked as though the top of its head was a broken, hollow tree-trunk - though this feature was obscured, a bit, by the low light.

Now, the D-GEAR units sprang to life again.

Woodmon, adult-level vegetation digimon. Its bark is highly flammable, but provides good protection from all other attacks. It has a very fierce personality, and it uses its Branch Drill attack to drain its enemy's energy- or, failing that, simply strike them.

"Great," Julian said, looking between the hologram and the actual Woodmon until the D-GEAR turned off with a 'blip'.

"So these are them?" he asked, scanning his gaze across the six humans and six foreign digimon and narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, sir," the Floramon in front said, bowing deeply.

"Uh, Woodmon sir," Egakumon said, "we've been through here before- I mean, when your village was still above ground."

"And we're with them," Simon chimed in, pointing at the rabbit digimon.

"We mean no harm, I think they mean to say," Andrea said, looking cautiously at the large plant digimon in front of them. She flinched a bit as the monster let out a sort of dark chuckle.

"Of course you don't," he said, his booming voice dripping with sarcasm as he folded his hands. "We know you're with them."

"... what, with Era?" Kamomon said before he could stop himself, tilting his head and looking bewildered. He fluffed up his feathers a bit, even.

"Is that why we were brought down here, sir?" Toby asked, sidestepping around Emily. "Because you think we're with Era? ... sir?"

"We don't think," the trunk-like monster said in a gravelly, but still booming, voice, "we know!" He was stopped here, however, as a Palmon at his side gave him a sidelong glance and a bit of a concerned expression.

"Do we?" the smaller digimon asked. "You just told us to bring anyone down who passed by..."

A Floramon on the tree digimon's other side chimed in: "And it does kind of look like these are the digimon that Deekamon was protecting. Just... bigger."

"And even discounting that - not to discret you, sir - but I think you're the only one who thinks it," the Palmon muttered in a voice only half-meant to be heard, rubbing the back of her head.

None of this could be heard, of course, to those in the 'audience'; the children merely exchanged glances with eachother and their partners, curious and slightly worried.

"What do you suppose they're...?" Toby asked, looking around (and up, really, for how short he was) at the others

Rajamon frowned, flicking his tail back and forth. "If they attack, I've got this handled," the cat muttered, likely-thankfully only audible to those directly around him.

"Geeze, we should be trying to make allies, not making enemies," Simon groaned. "The fewer fights we pick, the better, right?" Toby and Julian both nodded; Andrea was trying to eavesdrop on the plant digimon's conversation, and Emily was idly - nervously - playing with one of the straps on her overalls, watching nervously.

"It'd be one heck of a salad if there was a fight, yeom," Delfinimon said, looking around; she was oblivious to the short stares that she got from all in her party, except for her partner, who snickered.

It took a moment, but after a moment, Woodmon spoke in his echoing voice once again.

"We've been in a bit of a state of disarray," the Palmon directly to his side said, stepping in front of her leader. "Our other leader..." She paused, looking for the world

"Defected, recently," the Floramon provided.

"Vegiemon defected?" Rajamon blurted, before he turned to look at the kids. "Vegiemon and Woodmon, together, were some of the biggest holdouts around, when Era took over the Wide Forest- before any of us were hatched. They've kept themselves secret, see."

"And so this Vegiemon turned to the dark side," Andrea supplied, folding her arms, "and I assume that's why you're down here?"

The Floramon who had spoken nodded his head. "Woodmon made us move down here so Vegiemon couldn't tell Era where we were, and he told us to bring anyone suspicious down."

"We're suspicious?" Emily asked, frowning a bit.

The Palmon frowned a bit and nodded. "We hadn't seen anything like you - or the other digimon - before. We weren't used to seeing them so..."

"Big!" Delfinimon said with a little flip of her tail.

"Powerful!" added Egakumon, grinning.

"Changed," Woodmon boomed. "You stood out. Forgive us if we're suspicious. Era has the habit of sticking digimon where they don't belong."

With a sort of resigned nod, the children nodded and shrugged.

"We weren't too hurt," Julian said, dusting his arms off. Iguamon looked up at his partner, before he turned to Woodmon and asked:

"May we leave?"

The tree-like digimon seemed to consider it for a moment, threading his fingers - on both his smaller hands and his big trunk-like arms - together in contemplation. "If you are here, we may request your help."

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to happen a lot?" Faris said, and Andrea elbowed him in the side.

Woodmon hoisted himself to more of a standing position, and peered down at them. "I'm going to have to ask you to see if you can defeat... him." By 'him,', he likely meant Vegiemon- particularly from the pained way in which he said it. "I ask that only one of you fights- I don't want, you understand, to damage the trees or the ground. It could cause our tunnels, here, to collapse." He waved a hand to indicate the roots that held up parts of the caverns.

"Makes sense, I suppose," Toby admitted.

"Who should?" Lammon asked, sitting down.

Woodmon paused, looking pointedly at Rajamon. The feline raised his eyebrows, but took a step foward. "Your ability is..." and the tree monster flinched a little, here, involuntarily, "fire, correct?"

Rajamon nodded, and a sort of smirk pulled at his face. He paced over to the nearest wall, and tossed his head wordlessly- the couple of palmon and floramon gathered around shooed away instantly. Rajamon opened his mouth, and from the air sparked little bits of glowing energy that gathered into his mouth, accumulating.

Much as he had used against Grizzlymon just the night before, Rajamon let out a yell of "Prince Fire!" and released it at the jagged dirt wall. The ball, crackling with fire, hit the wall and burst, a few cinders flying a foot or two away but dissipating quickly.

Rajamon's smirk spread, but faded slightly as he looked around- all of the plant digimon had flinched away, especially Woodmon, who had thrown his larger arms up in front of himself for protection. As the cat paced back to the group, Woodmon opened one blue eye and spread his arms to peek through them.

The tree coughed, and tried to maintain dignity.

"And your partner is?"

Andrea raised her hand, the other on her hip.

"Hey, Andrea, looks like it's your turn to run off into the woods alone," Emily said, smiling. A sort of half-smile tugged at one side of Andrea's face, but she did not let it show too much.

Woodmon sighed deeply. "... he'll be in the area. You just need to lure him out."

Rajamon nodded silently, and turned to Andrea.

* * *

><p>A few moments later, Andrea and Rajamon were shown the way out by a pair of Floramon- through another series of tunnels, quite maze-like to look back upon, popping out on a hillside near a stream.<p>

"I can't imagine they're too happy down there," Rajamon said as he hopped out of the tunnel; Andrea followed, and as soon as she had stepped out, the plant digimon replaced the dense foliage that hid the hole. In a second's time, it was nigh-impossible to tell there was anything under the bed of vegetation.

"Mmm," the girl said, looking around. Between the trickle of the water and the morning sun shining through the trees, it was fairly idyllic to look uon- Like an opening scene for some movie with an environmental message, she thought, right before the area gets bulldozed.

There was a rumbling.

"Crap, I didn't mean it..." Andrea hissed, wavering slightly and holding herself steady on a tree. Rajamon didn't seem to hear her (or if he did, he didn't comment)- but he growled, his ears pricking up.

"He's close."

"What tipped you off, the rumbling?" Andrea asked, frowning. "Couldn't, I don't know, an earthquakemon do that?"

"The smell," Rajamon replied, and a second later, the human girl got the message- there wafted over the heavy, sickly-sweet scent of fruit and flowers. It smelled, in a word, incredibly ripe, almost like rotting fruit.

Only a moment later, there crashed through the trees a thing that appeared to Andrea like a monstrous squash. It moved itself with great hopping movements, and lashed out with tentacle-like vines, taking out small plants and bushes as it went. On its head was a plume of red leaves, right above narrow red eyes- which themselves rested above a wide mouth filled with teeth.

It was pretty imposing, to be honest- but thankfully, it seemed not to notice them as it crashed over the hill, over the now-underground village.

Andrea's D-GEAR booted up, and began to speak.

Vegiemon, adult-level vegetation digimon. It uses its sweet smell to draw small digimon close, but once they get in range it drags them close with its vines. However, when a digimon draws near it that its vines can't subdue, it attacks with foul smells and compost.

"Go?" Rajamon hissed.

Andrea looked down to him. "Go."

Like a shot, Rajamon took off with a great bound. Before Vegiemon could turn to see him, the cat pounced at him. He yelled out:

"Fire Dash!"

As he said it, the long fur on his limbs, head, and tailtip suddenly burst into flames, as he threw himself headlong into Vegiemon.

Rajamon crashed into Vegiemon with a thud and a squeltch; Vegiemon let out a yowl of pain and whipped himself around. Rajamon then got a faceful of vine, tumbling back down the hill and landing at Andrea's feet.

"I'm fine," he said before she even had a chance to remark, and darted back up the hill; he was met with a bellowing boom of "Stink Jet!"

Rajamon was hit full in the face with a blast of what seemed to be a mixture of liquid and gas- but no matter what form it was in, it smelled foul, even from where Andrea was standing.

With his face covered in the goop, the cat snarled. Careful not to let any drip into his mouth, he opened his maw and began to gather fire once more. "Prince Fire!"

The fireball shot at Vegiemon, and blasted him straight in the face. The giant plant digimon stumbled back (as best it could stumble without feet), and curled its lip.

"I bet you know where the village went," Vegiemon growled, whipping out one of his vines at the cat digimon. It hit true, and wrapped solidly around Rajamon in a hugging grip.

Rajamon snarled and began to gather fire in his mouth again, but a harsh squeeze put an end to that tactic right-quick. The smaller digimon gave a yelp, and snarled as Vegiemon drew him closer.

"The village used to be here," the plant digimon said, blowing putrid air in the child digimon's face. "So where is it now?"

"You ain't the most elegant speaker, are 'ya?" Andrea cut in- she had, it seemed, rushed straight in when neither had been looking. Much like she had done the previous day, she suddenly smashed her knee the one of Vegiemon's vines that was gripping her partner.

He let out a gurgling roar, dropping the cat- and almost immediately grabbing Andrea, instead, almost as soon as Rajamon hit the ground.

Hidden underneath Vegiemon's vine, Andrea's D-GEAR unit began to glow. It shot out like a beam, and struck Rajamon.

Kickstart Digivolution, begin.

"Rajamon, kick-start digivolve, to..."

Rajamon grew to several times his original size. The fur around his limbs and on his head vanished; a second necklace-like piece of jewelery snapped around his neck, as the gem thereupon turned blue as his eyes. Bracelets - two per limb - snapped with a clink around the paw equivilent of wrists and ankles, as another tuft of fur appeared near the base of his tail. As the light began to fade, he let out a roar.

"Baghamon!"

Without wasting so much as a second, Baghamon leapt at Vegiemon, and against his better judgment, bit down hard into the tentacle that held his partner. She was dropped swiftly, even as Vegiemon whipped around to smash a vine into Baghamon's body.

"Back away, Andrea," the cat commanded; she nodded once and quickly vacated the general vicinity. As soon as she was a safe distance away, Baghamon began to dart in a circle around Vegiemon, faster than he could turn to catch up. "Fire Cyclone!"

Fire began to be kicked up where Baghamon's feet connected with the ground. Within a moment's notice, Vegiemon was surrounded by a circular wall of fire; Vegiemon yowled from within. Baghamon stood at the ready; however, by the time the flames died down, Vegiemon was both blackened and unconscious. Almost as soon as he saw it, a white light enveloped Baghamon, and down he shrunk again to Rajamon.

Rajamon looked up at Andrea; she smiled, and he smiled back.

Up from the end of the tunnel a short ways away, there popped a couple Palmon; they looked cautiously around, before they gave a cry back down the tunnel. Under the ground, there was an echoing noise as the message was conveyed. Within a minute or two, the entire area was flooded with Palmon and Floramon, anxious to get a look at their ex-leader- and along with them came the other children.

"Whoaaaa, way to go there," Faris exclaimed, trying to catch a glimpse around the crowd of plant digimon.

"I take it you digivolved?" Kamomon asked, smiling; Rajamon nodded.

"Way to go, bud-deh! Welcome to the club!" Egakumon said with a grin, holding up a claw as though for a high five. Very much to his surprise, Rajamon - instead of mocking him - pushed himself to sit on his hind legs, and slapped his paw into the rabbit's club-like claw.

The digimon parted, as Woodmon emerged from the tunnel. He looked with great caution at the ashes around where Vegiemon now lay, but the tree-like digimon edged closer. He gently prodded the other plant with one root-like appendage.

All of a sudden, Woodmon drew his hand up and smashed it into Vegiemon. Some of the Palmon and Floramon gasped aloud. All of a sudden, the latter was engulfed in swirling data, which - like Grizzlymon, the kids noted - flew into the air, leaving a yellow and red egg behind where Vegiemon's body had laid a second before.

"He'll be back," the leader said, smiling around at his villagers as he picked up the egg. "But I think we should rebuild the village for him, first." He then paused, and looked to Rajamon. With a bit of distrust in his eyes - he wasn't one for fire! - Woodmon nodded. "We extend our thanks."

He then shifted his attention to the other children and their partners. "That is for all of you. You are a team, after all, I assume?" When he got a general murmur of 'uh, yeah, I guess we are', he chuckled. "How can we show our gratitude?"

The kids looked at eachother. After a moment, Emily was the one to speak up:

"Food would be good."

"We hope fruit will do," a Floramon nearby squeaked, smiling.

"Bring on the food!" Faris cheered; the others seemed to agree.


	4. Chapter 4: Depth

_**Author's Note:** Some might notice, if they ever check the site (again, linked on my page) that I've been uploading things there a good while before here. This should slow down to the point where they're near-concurrent again, starting next chapter. So. Yes!_

_Onward._

To say that they ate with the sort of demeanor of wild wolves would be a grievous understatement- the digimon particularly dove straight into the food that was presented to them by the plant digimon, while the children were apprehensive. Simon picked up one of the rainbow of fruit splayed in front of them as they sat on the grass outside of the tunnel. It was about half-over again the size of a baseball, smooth - almost rubbery - to the touch, and vivid purple. It yielded easily to the touch, like a very over-ripe peach.  
>"What on earth is this?" the be-hatted boy asked, blinking.<p>

"Terrafruit," Egakumon responded as though it were the simplest thing in the world. The rabbit grinned. "Every one of the fruit they gave us is Terrafruit, y'know? Comes in all shapes and colours- and flavours, too." (He then unceremoniously shoved one of the purple ones into his mouth, and reached for a bizarrely triangle-shaped red fruit next.)

The kids looked on as Faris was the first to venture a taste of a red, as though they were watching some sort of spectator sport. After a resounding "hey, it tastes pretty good!", they dipped their proverbial toes into the similarly-proverbial water. Some of the Terrafruit found itself more warmly-recieved than others; the triangular red ones, for instance, had the taste of watermelon candy. Meanwhile, oblong blue ones had a distinctly salty, smokey taste - these were left to Iguamon and Iguamon alone, as he seemed to be the only one who could stomach them.

It was only after some truly inelegant face-stuffing and a small bit of relaxation with the inhabitants of the Flora-Palmon village that the kids set out once more, digimon in tow. It was early afternoon when the twelve set out into the forest once more, marching in an unruly mob.

Kamomon, as soon as they hit the road, took off into the air again. He took it upon himself to rise above the trees now and again, to give the group a better idea of where they were and where to go, knowing the aforementioned.

"We're lucky you have a bird for a partner," Toby said to Emily in earnest, some time after they had departed the village. He watched the seagull-like digimon swoop back down to under the tree cover, into the sight of those groundbound. Emily smiled, though whether at the boy or the bird was anyone's guess. Kamomon landed on the ground and dusted himself off, having to do a bit of a curious hop-skip to re-join the group.

"Status report?" Andrea said, not stopping her stride as she cast a sideways glance to the bird digimon.

"The caves are up ahead, should be there within the hour," Kamomon replied, nodding his head once. Delfinimon groaned.

"I hate that place," she said, shaking her head as though to rid herself of the mental image. "It's dark and wet. Not like, the good kind of wet, yeom. Like the soggy, uncomfortable wet where mold grows."

"Back it up. Caves?" Julian asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Relatively system of caves," Lammon said, trotting up next to the oldest boy. "It serves as the proxy area between the Wide Forest and the Great Ocean."

"Which means," Iguamon said, "that it's what connects them." He pointed at the D-GEAR unit clipped to Julian's belt. "No matter what the maps say, the digital world can't smash everything together. Different bits of data get separated by proxy areas."

"So... caves?" Simon said; the dinosaur nodded.

"Caves, tunnels, sewers. Depends on where you're going."

Lammon took back up, here. "The first few caverns of these proxy caves are the farthest any of us have ever been from Deekamon's." She nodded her head to her fellow digimon.

"Should be pretty cool," Rajamon remarked, a smile tugging at his mouth.

"Isn't it great that they act like little tour guides?" Faris said with a grin, to Julian. Julian smirked a bit.

"It's our job, yeom," Delinimon said, beaming up at her partner. Faris smiled back, and picked her up with a bit of effort- she wasn't at heavy as Faris thought she'd be, especially for her size! Her fins flopped over his arms like a stuffed animal's limbs. "I like this better," she said, twitching her tailfin happily.

"I'm not going to carry you around all the time unless you cut back on the terrafruit a bit," Faris responded. Delfinimon rolled her eyes. Egakumon snickered a little bit, looking up at his own partner.

"Hey, how 'bout a piggy-back ride, Si?"

Before he got an answer, however, a bush or two to the side of the path began to shake.

"We're not about to be taken to another village, are we?" Toby whispered to Lammon, who shook her head in response- though she seemed to be on the defensive, ready for a strike.  
>Iguamon, meanwhile, walked right on up to the shrub.<p>

"Gotsumon?" he ventured to say. At the mention of the name, there emerged a head from the leaves. It was made entirely of rock, with two ear-like protrusions on the top. Big yellow eyes blinked up at the dinosaur, and following the rocky head was an entire rocky body.

"Paleomon?" the new digimon rasped, tilting its head... and breaking into a grin. "... Iguamon, now, yes?"

"You know eachother?" Emily said, putting her hands behind her head. Kamomon nodded his head 'yes' as he hopped into the air, and flapped to hover next to his partner.

"Gotsumon once helped us out of the caves," he said, "one time when Deekamon send us to look for you there."

"And again when we went in for its own sake," Iguamon added. "He's a pretty good guy."

Gotsumon nodded and smiled, taking a bow. "I see you've finally arrived," he said, and then looked at Egakumon. "... unless, of course, this is just Deekamon doing some sort of weird trick on all of you."

Egakumon suddenly looked very offended. He put his arms akimbo, and stomped one foot on the ground. "Hey, we digivolved to child level, didn't we? That's proof enough that-"

"He's kidding, Egakumon," Lammon said; regardless, Egakumon folded his arms and _harumph_ed.

The rocky digimon indicated the direction in which the troupe was headed before they stopped. "I take it you are going through the proxy cave, yes?"

"Seems so," Andrea replied with a nod.

Gotsumon broke into a pebble-filled smile. "May I ask why?"

"We need to find some dude," Faris said; Rajamon cast him a sort of unimpressed look.

"Wisemon," the cat said. "We're going to see Wisemon. Deekamon said that he could explain things. Help us out."

Gotsumon blanched visibly here, and shook his head. "That will not be easy, nope. You are aware that the Great Ocean is under even stricter control than here, yes?" When he got a nod in reply, he continued. "I have heard from others in the proxy cave that you can't so much as blow a bubble without an Agent knowing about it."

The group looked at eachother; Egakumon was the first to step forward.

"Point?" he said, putting one hand on his hip.

"Try not to sound so much like a valley girl," Simon muttered, smirking.

Egakumon tossed his partner a look and stuck his tongue out, but turned back to Gotsumon. "We'll manage."

Gotsumon smiled again. "I was hoping you would say that, yes. There is a part of the proxy cave which should lead you to the very edge of the Great Ocean."

"Can we interpret that as an offer to help us through?" Toby questioned.

Gotsumon bowed low. "It would be an honor," he said, "but I cannot promise that we will not run into Agents. They have begun lurking in the caves, yes."

"Two of us have already digivolved up to Adult," Rajamon said; Egakumon nodded proudly, and then the feline continued. "We'll be fine."

"The rest of us still haven't seen it happen," Julian remarked, and he was right- both times, the duo in question had been out of sight of the others.

"Yeah, how do we know it's not all a sham, yeom?" Delfinimon said, tongue obviously in cheek, still from her place in Faris' arms.

"Well, I don't think Rajamon could defeat Vegiemon on his own, the way he is," Kamomon pointed out.

With a sardonic smile, Iguamon said, "that still leaves Egakumon's story up to suspicion. We all know he's been chomping at the bit to digivolve." He got the response he seemed to want, as Egakumon huffed audibly. Howeever, it was Simon that leapt in.

"It was real, man! Just wait until we see something else that needs to be put in its place, and then you'll know!"

"Calm down, Simon," Andrea said, rolling her eyes... but then she smirked. "We all know that Rajamon could beat your bunny up in a fight any day of the week."

"Hey!"

"... the sovereigns chose some very interesting ones, yes?" Gotsumon said to Lammon, who had walked up nearer to him. She nodded and gave the rock digimon a long-suffering look.

"Mmmm. They just need to be guided a bit. That's why we're going to go see Wisemon."

Gotsumon inspected the rabble of children and digimon before him, and tilted his head. He squinted his eyes. "If you say so," he said, "but I hope so. Who knows, with the way the Digital World is, Yggdrasil might have pulled the wrong children in..."

Lammon shook her head 'no'. "They're the right ones," she said, sitting down. "The Sovereigns chose them, and Yggdrasil doesn't make mistakes."

* * *

><p>It was a bit of a walk to the proxy caves- and it was hard to miss once the trees thinned out. In front of them loomed, yet again, a great cliff face.<p>

"So, uh, how do we get in?" Emily asked, looking around; there was no obvious entrance. Kamomon, who had been flying alongside, landed, and pulled on her pant leg. He pointed; the kids followed to see what he was indicating.

While the kids had been staring up at the cliff face and looking around, Iguamon and Gotsumon had trotted right up to a number of tremendous boulders. They suddenly smashed their hands forward into one rock each; both shattered with ease. Behind where the rocks had reclined against the cliff face a moment before, a good-sized tunnel- large enough for a good-sized pickup truck to pass through - was revealed. It sloped down, somewhat, deeper into the ground.

"... cool," Toby said as he peeked into the tunnel, poking his head around the others in order to get a better look.

"The lights still work?" Egakumon asked, looking at Gotsumon. The latter nodded, and made a sweeping hand motion. Indeed, if they were to look, the kids and digimon would see glowing red lights placed periodically along the walls- identical to those in the underground Flora-Palmon village, though placed farther apart.

"Convenient," Julian said, raising an eyebrow.

"A lot of digimon can't see in the dark, Julian, us included," Lammon replied, "and a lot of them use the proxy areas."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Kamomon chimed in; the sheep digimon nodded.

Before any more remarks could pass their lips, Gotsumon stepped to the front of the herd, such as it was, again.

"I do not mean to make us rush, but the less time we stand here the better off we will be, yes."

Simon cast a glance over his shoulder, back into the trees. "When we come out, it'll be totally different, right?"

Egakumon nodded, and looked up at his partner. "Totally different part of the digital world."

"One we've never been to," Delfinimon added, and she frowned a bit. "I'm almost sad to leave the Wide Forest, y'know, yeom?" She nudged her head against Faris' chin- he still hadn't put her down, and she wasn't complaining.  
>She seemed to spring something up in the digimon; Rajamon cast a look over his shoulder and frowned a bit, and Iguamon stood next to Julian, looking steadfastly at the cave opening, seeming lost in thought. Lammon bowed her head, and Kamomon hopped into the air and flew up a little bit, to get one last good glimpse around. Egakumon just frowned.<p>

Rajamon looked up at Andrea. "Andrea?"

"Yeah?"

"We've waited our whole lives for you guys, y'know," the feline said; the girl nodded.

"It's just kind of... surreal," Kamomon said from overhead.

"That it's finally happened, right?" Emily finished, sounding as though she were in a completely different place, mentally, as she watched her partner flap to keep his place in the air. The seagull nodded, but didn't look down.  
>Toby looked around at the digimon, then down at his untied shoes. Julian shoved his hands into his pockets, casting a sideways glance at Iguamon, but remaining tight-lipped.<p>

"Well, we can't, y'know..." Faris said, frowning a bit, and stuttering a little. "We've gotta move on, right? 'Fore some, I donno, palm-tree monster decides to attack." That seemed to shake the digimon from their reveries (and, in Kamomon's case, to return to earth).

"I'm sure we'll come back," Egakumon said all of a sudden, giving a smile that seemed half genuine, and half forced. There was a rippling murmur of assent.

"Then let's get going, yeah?" Simon said, pumping one fist in the air. Egakumon mirrored the motion, and his usual cheeky grin returned.

A mere second later, it was Iguamon who said, "Lead the way, Gotsumon."

And with that, the group of twelve and one guide shambled into the tunnel. The caverns were, to be simple, confusing. To start, the ceiling varied wildly, going from being so low that the children (except Toby for the most part, being as short as he was) had to duck their heads down to avoid smacking their heads into the rock, to high enough that they were easily twice again over as tall as Julian was tall. Outside of the ceiling, the tunnels were almost creepily uniform in width and appearance- evenly-placed lights cast their soft red glow, the ground was shockingly even upon which to walk.  
>Gotsumon led them as they went- and it was lucky that he did, as off-shooting branches and dead-end caverns were littered everywhere.<p>

Perhaps a half-an-hour had passed with nothing but idle chatter and occasional whisper-shouted instructions from Gotsumon- "watch out, yes, there's a pit here", or "be careful, stick to the right wall, yes". However, as they walked, a strange feeling washed over the humans of the team.

"My head hurts," Toby whined, clutching both sides his head as though he were holding together the halves of a coconut. Perhaps 'hurt' wasn't the best term, however- it was less pain, and more like a fuzzy, nauseous feeling. It was almost like the feeling of one's leg falling asleep, and the tingly pins-and-needles feeling that came after, but centralized in their heads and washing down their bodies, leaving a wave of lightheaded nausea in its wake.

The digimon - even Gotsumon - paused and looked at eachother... with one major exception. "It's just reformatting," Iguamon said, looking at the clearly-worried humans. He got the hint quite immediately that this didn't help much. "It happens in proxy areas," he added quickly, holding out his claw-gloved hands. "It happens to everyone, I understand- it doesn't do any harm."

Suddenly, Egakumon leapt up excitedly. "Oh! Deekamon told me about that!"

Rajamon looked at the rabbit, and raised an eyebrow. "Deekamon told you a lot, didn't he," he said with no small level of sarcasm.

"I would guess," Kamomon cut in quickly, before a fight could start, "that it was simply because Egakumon... well, _listened_ to Deekamon more than the rest of us."

Egakumon _harumph_ed again, but looked up at Simon. "I don't know what it is, exactly, but he said it happens to everyone in Proxy areas. We just don't notice it-"

"Because we're made of all-data, yeom!" Delfinimon finished, spreading her fins wide. "And you guys aren't."

"... remind me to ask you to explain that later," Andrea said, sighing. She held a hand to her head. "So explain what's going on now?"

"Oh!" Emily said; the others turned to look at her. "Like, moving a file from one place to another? Cut and paste?" she said, brushing her bangs out of her face.

"Guess that makes sense," Simon muttered; Adrea shrugged, and Faris nodded a couple times. If they were telling the truth about this being digital, it made more sense than (for instance) a bunch of plants moving underground to avoid a giant talking squash.

Julian looked both understanding and unimpressed, but rubbed the back of his head. "Please tell me this isn't going to happen every time we go between places?"

Gotsumon shrugged apologetically, smiling sheepishly. "I am sorry, but yes, yes. I assume, that is. ... you will get used to it?" Even as he spoke, either the effect was wearing off, or the children were indeed simply adapting; regardless, the fuzzy, staticky feeling began to fade. They began to walk again.

Another moment or two passed; suddenly, a rumbling passed through the tunnels. It started as a distant sound, echoing and reverberating throughout the earth; it soon escalated to rumbling the tunnels around the children and their partners.

"Hunker down!" Andrea barked, throwing her arms up to cover her face and dropping to the ground- the latter partially because the tremors were growing so strong such that it was hard to stay standing. The rest of the children followed suit. Lammon stood fierce near Toby where he dropped; Iguamon leaned against the wall, using it to hold himself in a standing position; the other digimon had no such burden, and for all intents and purposes hit the deck.

"Please tell me it's not _another_ enemy thing," Simon groaned, but the second his D-GEAR began to glow, that was put to rest as a suspicion and made into fact.

"I think we oughta get used to it," Toby remarked, as the wall about ten meters away suddenly collapsed. Where once was solid rock was now a new tunnel- and in that newly-formed tunnel was a great purple and white digimon, much like a gargantuan mole in all ways save for one major factor- the giant drill in the middle of its face, and the smaller drills that stood in place of claws.

"Faaantastic," Faris muttered. All six D-GEAR units sprang to life, and began to speak as they had come to realize would be usual.

_Drimogemon. Adult-level beast digimon. Some of the best diggers in the digital world, they live most of their lives underground. They use both their environment and their drills to attack, primarily with Iron Drill Spin attack._

The mole-like digimon thrashed her head wildly, until she came to a stop; she stared at the group with a sort of feral intensity. There was obviously not going to be much in the way of discussion.

Gotsumon shuffled back into the group for protection; Simon, meanwhile, took a step forward. "C'mon, Egakumon," he said out of the corner of his mouth. Egakumon grinned, and up and lunged forward. Simon's D-GEAR got hardly a chance to cool down from its introduction before it began to glow again. Almost mid-stride, Egakumon was bathed in white light; he didn't even notice that Rajamon had leapt up aside him, glowing brightly.

Kickstart digivolution, begin.  
>"Egakumon, kickstart digivolve to Shokunimon!"<br>"Rajamon, kickstart digivolve to Baghamon!"

In a few seconds time, there stood both a larger tiger and a lankier rabbit than were there a moment ago; Lammon smiled a little bit. "I suppose that solves the problem about whether they digivolved," she remarked.

"Whoa," Emily remarked; Kamomon hopped up and draped his arms around her neck to get a better look.

Drimogemon let out a mighty cry, a roar that shook the tunnel with its volume.  
>"I think she's mad," Toby said quietly. However, while the mole roared, Baghamon took it upon himself to dash at her, snarling as his paws began to kick up a trail of flames behind him. He barked out a quick "Tiger Gem!", and light began to gather in the gem on his necklace. Once he drew nearer his target, it fired in a brilliant beam which struck Drimogemon.<p>

He was stopped pretty dead in his tracks, however, from releasing another attack when Drimogemon yelled out "Iron Drill Spin!", the horn-like drill on her face beginning to whir loudly. She bucked her head forward at just the right moment, into the tiger- who was thrown back nearer the group.

"Hah," Shokunimon said. He whipped his brush out, aimed it at his target, and quite decisively yelled:  
>"Paint Blast!"<br>A vividly multicoloured blob of paint sprang forth from the rabbit's paintbrush, and splattered quite impressively on Drimogemon's face.

She did not seem impressed.

By this, it was meant that Drimogemon snarled and charged at Shokunimon- and by extension, the group. Shokunimon wasted no time- he charged straight at the mole, holding his paintbrush behind him like he was a sword-wielding samurai. One foot began to glow.

"Tumble Ki-!"

Before he could even get the attack name out, Drimogemon smashed her horn into him. He was thrown back to the group- in fact, straight into Baghamon. As they connected, both Shokunimon and Baghamon were encased in a bright white light. For a second they glowed, before the light spread out, leaving their bodies in little glowing orbs that dispersed in the air. In their wake, they left only Rajamon and Egakumon, once more in their smaller forms. Almost immediately, the kids and digimon alike turned their attentions to the two.

Drimogemon snarled, but suddenly paused. She seemed to be thinking for a moment, before she gave a little smirk, and before anyone looked back to her, she turned around and retreated through the tunnel she had created on the way in.

"Are you guys okay?" Toby inquired, looking between the rabbit and the tiger.

"Never better," Rajamon replied through gritted teeth, pushing himself to his feet.

"Fantastic," Egakumon added, getting up with a bit of help from Kamomon. "Okay, so that didn't work."

Andrea sighed, massaging her temples. "That's, what, three attacks in the last day?"

"Four," Emily said, smiling serenely. "'Member? Simon and Egakumon's thing. We were asleep."

Delfinimon, meanwhile, looked at Egakumon. "Heheh. Guess we know you were telling the truth now, yeom?" Egakumon smirked.

"Told y'so."

Julian, meanwhile, looking up the tunnel. His eyes narrowed. "Why did she run off?" he asked of nobody in particular.

It was now that Gotsumon spoke up again, pushing his way out of the protection of the huddled group. "She could have been a scout," he said. "To find where you were, yes?" He indicated the tunnel she had made. "She retreated, yes? I didn't see it, no, but..."

Iguamon looked at the rocky digimon, and sighed. "Then we should move. Directly."

Kammon got a determined expression. "We could stand and fi-"

But before he could even finish the sentence, Iguamon outright barked at him, "No!" He paused, then, and realized that he had sounded unintentionally harsh. "No. You saw what happened when those two," and he nodded his head at Egakumon and Rajamon, "tried to fight her, and the rest of us are still child-level. We'd best just move."

"He's right," Lammon said quietly, nodding. "If she has backup, we'd be even worse off. "Are you two okay?" she asked, looking at Egakumon and Rajamon.

"Already said yes," Rajamon replied, shaking himself as though he were a dog shaking off water. "Let's go." They needed no more instruction- with Gotsumon taking the lead again, they took off at a brisk, march-like pace down the tunnel again.

It didn't last long.

Perhaps ten minutes had gone by before the rumbling started up again.

"Why am I not surprised," Andrea muttered. Despite this, she - and everyone else - seemed plenty surprised when part of the ceiling caved in. It was a scramble to avoid the rocks falling down, and the scramble led to a backwards domino effect. Gotsumon hop-skipped backwards, which crashed into Egakumon and Rajamon, who knocked down their respective partners; Delfinimon, Faris, Emily, and Kamomon scrambled to keep them from falling over- and failed. They crashed down, whereas Toby and Lammon just shuffled backwards- and they only narrowly avoided knocking into Julian and Iguamon.

"We need to work on not doing that," Faris mumbled. He looked up from the pile, however, to look ahead of them.

From the tunnel that had just opened over their heads, Drimogemon had returned. She was alone, but she looked as though none of the attacks from before had so much as scratched her.

"You two stay back," Kamomon said quickly, seeing Egakumon and Rajamon hop to attention. He extracted himself, and did a sort of hopping dash to the front. Behind him followed the other three digimon, and between themselves, they formed a small living-shield wall between themselves and the kids, the two digimon who were being excluded, and Gotsumon- who once more rushed back into the group of kids.

"One at a time," Drimogemon rumbled, the first thing she had said in earshot of the group aside from calling her attacks. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips were drawn back in a smile that showed off her teeth.

"Lammon, get her front. Kamomon, left. Delfinimon, go right," Iguamon said in a low voice, holding his claws up as though he was preparing to attack. "We can't rush her alone. That's what they tried to do," and he once more indicated the two digimon that were not on the front-line.

"Yes, and we're also doomed," Delfinimon whispered back. "If those two couldn't-"

"We'll be fine," Kamomon cut in before the dolphin could finish speaking. However, as if on cue, Drimogemon snickered nastily.

"Go on believing that," she sneered, waving her head back and forth as though inviting them to attack.  
>They took that invitation, leaping forward.<p>

As per Iguamon's hasty instructions, the group of four split, with the bird and the lam rushing to the mole's right side, and the dinosaur and dolphin to her left. A chorus of attacks were called- Lammon leapt straight past Drimogemon's face with a "Counting Sheep!", the smoky end of her pony tail flaring up. A pink haze drifted up into the mole digimon's face, and her eyelids slid halfway down.  
>Delfinimon and Kamomon, rushing to their respective sides, opened their mouths; Kamomon gathered a swirling ball of water in his mouth, and Delfinimon gathered energy. Almost-simultaneously, the two cried out.<br>"Blast Bite!" from Delfinimon, as she snapped her mouth down on Drimogemon's leg; "Ocean Blast!" from Kamomon, as he fired the water with great force.

This worked as Iguamon had hoped it would- as he ducked around her back, and ran up her back. At the back of her neck, he called out, "Dino Claw!" and scratched madly.  
>Drimogemon bucked wildly, but Iguamon grabbed clawfuls of fur and held tight; with a mighty swipe of both paws, she knocked back the other three into the group.<p>

"I feel like I got hit by a truck," Delfinimon muttered into the ground.

"Great," Iguamon growled, his eyes narrowed. He lifted one claw to strike again... and lost his grip, tossed off by the mole's wild motion. He tumbled to the ground, and looked back at the group quickly.

Julian was kneeling next to Egakumon, whispering something to the rabbit- he couldn't hear what. Iguamon raised an eyebrow, and quickly turned his attention to Drimogemon again.  
>He lowered his head and seemed prepared to charge... until a white and blue blur moved past him.<p>

"What, y'come back for more!" Egakumon yelled, hopping up and down and waving his paintbrush like a flag. "C'mon, bring it!"

Drimogemon was distracted almost immediately, snarling as she turned to look at the other digimon. "I could crush you with one claw," she growled, and took a step towards the rabbit- and indeed, reared one hand back. Iguamon's eyes lit up with comprehension.

"Iguamon, go," Julian said in an even tone, almost out of the corner of his mouth. Iguamon needed no further instruction, and he reared his arm back to strike... and his arm, followed by the rest of him, was engulfed in light.

_Kickstart Digivolution, begin._

"Iguamon, kickstart digivolve to..." Iguamon grew much larger, and his back seemed to bow, moving his head forward. His legs lengthened and became more animalistic, and his tail whipped back and forth as it grew in length. Spikes sprouted on his lower back; his hands became less oblong, more like a real dinosaur's; one large claw grew on each foot. A long, shaggy mane grew forth from his head, and similar hair sprouted on his legs and tail-tip. The finishing touch came with a skull helmet that snapped into place on his face. "Velocimon!"

"Sweet," Simon said, smiling.

"Mole Claw!" Drimogemon cried, slashing her claw down at the rabbit digimon in front of her. Egakumon darted out of the way, his tail flicking out of the way at the last second to avoid being smashed by the mole's mighty paw. As Drimogemon turned to see where he had gone to, a scowl on her face, she was treated to a much larger dinosaur than had been there before, rushing straight at her.

"Fast Strike!" Velocimon cried, putting his head down in his charge. To an observer, for a moment he may have seemed to disappear for just a second- only a second. He was clearly visible once more when he smashed, skull-helmet first, into Drimogemon's chest.

She roared, and the drill on her face whirred to life.  
>"Iron Drill Spin!"<br>She jabbed at the dinosaur, who recoiled from the hit with a growl and a snarl.

Velocimon gave a feral roar, however, and didn't even as announce an attack as he slashed out at Drimogemon's face with one of the large claws on his feet. She reared back. Velocimon smiled, and looked over his shoulder. "Stand back," he said in a gutteral voice; the onlookers shuffled backwards, avoiding disaster this time.

"Boulder Break!"  
>Velocimon uprooted from the ground around him a massive boulder, and hoisted it up. Then, without warning, he dashed into point-blank range with it, and smashed his skull-helmet-protected head into it. It shattered into a hundred pieces, many of them going straight into the mole.<p>

She snarled and roared- and began to glow white. Data began to encircle her body. She gave one last roar- and in her place was a purple egg, a moment later.  
>Velocimon was covered in light a second later- however, unlike the mole digimon, he simply shrunk back into Iguamon.<p>

"Dude!" Faris exclaimed, grinning at Julian. "Your partner is _killer_."

"No kidding!" Kamomon cried, lifting himself into the air from excitement- and landing a second later, reminded of his injury.

There was general exclamation- the digimon, who seemed to be doing better for themselves, gathered around Iguamon, exclaiming their congratulations. The humans, meanwhile, were tittering amongst themselves.

"So, uh, why did you have to choose Egakumon?" Simon said, putting his hands behind his head. Despite his offended tone, he was grinning widely.

Julian pulled his lips back in a thin smile. "I figured he was the only one dumb enough to do it," he explained with tongue in cheek.

A minute or two was spent like this; however, before too long, Gotsumon raised his voice. While they had talked, he had walked ahead and picked up Drimogimon's egg. "We should continue going, yes?" he inquired, looking around at the gathered.

The kids exchanged glances. Toby was the first to speak. "Okay, but one question."

Gotsumon tilted his head.

"How much further is it? I don't want to get attacked for the fifth time today."


	5. Chapter 5: Light in the Dark

The caves continued on for what seemed like an eternity.

As they walked, however, the partner digimon gabbered incessantly. Lammon, Kamomon, and Delfinimon, and ruminated over what they would be like when they digivolved; Iguamon, Rajamon, and Egakumon were asked to explain the feeling again and again. Kamomon explained to the children more about what they meant when it was said that they were made of data. Gotsumon led, chuckling and reacting to the talk behind him but not actively participating.

"So I don't get it," Simon said after a while. "Why do you guys need us? All we've done is follow you guys around while you get big and kick things' butts."

"We need you guys," Egakumon replied, smiling. "We couldn't get big and 'kick their butts', like y'said, if you guys weren't here to share your energy with us."

"We could," Lammon added quickly, "it would just take years and years for us to get that big."

Egakumon nodded in agreement, before he continued. "So we need your Virtues. Those things in your D-GEAR units, yeah? We can't activate them alone."

"But that's what Deekamon always told us, at least," Rajamon finished, shrugging as best he could.

"Wasn't aware you ever listened to him," Delfinimon remarked; Rajamon shot her a look out of the corner of his eye.

"So what I mean is that it might not be true," the tiger said offhandedly, before he paused and craned his neck to look up at Andrea. He smiled. "But I think we can deal with it."

"If you don't like having a partner, you're free to leave," Iguamon said flatly, walking up beside Rajamon. Rajamon blinked and reared his head back a bit in surprise.

"Geeze, grow a sense of humor..."

"Can we please go ten minutes without fighting?" Lammon asked, shaking her head.

"I know how," Toby said all of a sudden, hands in his pockets. When the others looked at him, he was yawning and stretching his arms out. "I'm tired," he said; that simple announcement seemed to spur something in the others. Like a lead weight on their shoulders, digimon and humans alike seemed to slump down.

"Y'know, come to think..."

"It's been a freakin' long day."

"We can't fight if we're trying not to konk out, yeom."

Gotsumon looked thoughtful, then paused. The rocky digimon cast a look towards one of the little side-tunnels that led off the path down which he was leading the kids. "Wait here, yes," he said, and darted into it. The kids cast looks at eachother; before a minute had passed, however, Gotsumon popped back out. "Just like I thought, yes!" With one hand he beckoned them in.

They followed him in; it was narrow, only wide enough for them to enter in single-file. It led for about ten meters, before it opened up into a small dead-end cavern, about the size of a medium-sized living-room. Three red lights were fixed to the walls- one on either the left and right, and one straight ahead. It was, aside from that, completely empty, with a domed ceiling.

"We're going to sleep here?" Andrea asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I can live with that," Emily said, stretching her arms out. "We've been walking and being attacked enough that anything sounds good."

"So how can we be sure we won't be attacked here?" Julian asked, looking at Gotsumon. The digimon smiled.

"I have slept in these caves before, yes. The solution is simple." Gotsumon carefully set down the egg that had once been Drimogemon, and beckoned to Iguamon; he whispered something to the dinosaur. Together, the two set off back up the path.

If one were to follow and watch, they would see the two digimon building up a wall of rocks in the entrance; it wasn't the fastest going, though, so for ten minutes, while the two built a makeshift wall, those remaining settled down, sliding down against the wall and making themselves as at-home as they could.

"This place is nuts," Faris remarked, scooting down into a sitting position next to a wall, while Delfinimon draped her body over her partner's lap.

"And you're a good pillow," she said, grinning.

"And if we get woken up in the middle of the night, and I can't run because my legs have had the circulation totally cut off, and so I die, it's your fault," Faris remarked with a grin; Delfinimon rolled her eyes and scooted off.

"Fiiiine. But just 'cuz I haven't digivolved yet, and I wanna see what I'll be, yeom."

Toby looked over at Lammon, pulling his knees up to his chest. "Lammon?" he asked, looking over at the egg that had been formed from Drimogemon. "Why did you guys not turn into eggs when Drimogemon attacked you?"

Lammon looked up at him, before she laid down gingerly next to him. "Agents tend to fight eachother," she said, "and holdouts, too. We only have to deal with Agents, but they deal with other digimon, too." She sighed, and shook her head. "Agents usually win. But it tires them out more."

"That's why we told Egakumon and Rajamon to stay back," Kamomon said, looking up from preening a few of his feathers. "If they had been hit hard enough to make them de-digivolve, then..." The bird shrugged. Aside from general chatter, they fell quiet again.

Within a few minutes, Iguamon and Gotsumon returned from the tunnel. Iguamon walked over to where Julian sat, and slumped down.

"Secured up," he said, and yawned.

Gotsumon picked up Drimogemon's egg again, and carried it with him. He sat near the tunnel, cradled the egg on his lap, and almost instantly fell asleep.

"A good idea, that," Egakumon said, reclining on the wall. His big blue eyes slid shut, and within a moment he had drifted off. The digimon were quick to do the same- and it was hard to blame them.

"This is insane," Simon said, unclipping his D-GEAR unit from his belt. He looked at the device, tilted it this way and that, and looked at it closely as best he could in the red light. The kids followed suit, looking at the curious devices.

Andrea poked buttons for a moment until the holographic map was generated again. Indeed, the little point of light was flashing over the general area of the proxy area. "And we're supposed to find some seventh kid like this?" she asked, idly rotating the little holographic planet with one finger. "... gotta admit this thing is kind of cool, though. Better than my phone."

"Yeah, if only it could make calls," Faris remarked. "... wonder how that weird hoodie monster thing is doing. Hope he hasn't been, I donno, eaten by wolves since we left... this morning." The way he said it betrayed his thoughts- it seemed to have been far, far longer than a single day. He looked at the dozing little dolphin beside him.

She even made little 'yeom' noises in her sleep.

"She has to be doing that on purpose."

"So, man, I didn't just hit my head after my phone went off, did I?" Emily asked, looking around the little cavern.

"Not unless I did, too," Toby chimed in.

Simon picked up a rock that sat near him, and turned it over in his hand. He cast a look over at the sleeping Gotsumon, and up the tunnel. "Hope that thing holds," he said off-handedly.

"Try to be optimistic," Julian remarked, breathing out heavily. "If it doesn't, we'll probably just be killed in our sleep, so it's no biggie."

The kids were between laughing and staring; Faris chuckled. "And you say that I need to learn when not to crack jokes, Jules."

That said, it didn't take long for the humans to drift off into slumber, even with that thought in mind.

* * *

><p>Much to the surprise of the pessimists and cynics in the group, the morning (one assumed- it was hard to tell from inside a cave) came about uneventfully. No wall broken in, no loud noises, no attacks by rampaging digimon.<p>

"Well colour me surprised," Andrea remarked, standing and stretching her legs out as the inhabitents of the make-shift bedroom began to stir to wakefulness. "We're still in one piece."

"Have a little faith," Kamomon remarked from where he sat next to Emily, smiling a little. He shuffled a bit and stood up, stretching his wings above his head. "So, I take it Iguamon and Gotsumon will get us back out?" he said, but Emily was looking around.

"Uh," she said, choosing her words carefully, "where is Gotsumon?"

A quick look around revealed, indeed, that there was no little rocky digimon to be found in the little cave. "Oh, this bodes well," Simon remarked quietly and with no small amount of sarcasm; even as he spoke, Egakumon darted into the hallway; a few seconds later, he popped his head back out and shook it.

"All blocked up still," he said, then beckoned to the digimon- particularly, Lammon, Kamomon, and Iguamon. The four retreated into the hall again; the kids (and Rajamon and Delfinimon) watched, eyebrows cocked, until they heard a muddled collection of yells:

"**Pummel Claw**!"

"**Lamb Kick**!"

"**Seagull Strike**!"

There was the dull thud of attacks hitting wall- but no sound of wall coming down.

Until there was the sound of running footsteps and then a resounding crash, and finally, a yell of "I am never doing that again" in Iguamon's voice.

"I think that only works when you're digivolved," Lammon's voice carried in, but then it was her who trotted back into the room proper. She tilted her head. "Wall's down."

Those remaining in the room filed out, a bit hectically; Delfinimon once again made Faris carry her, and the partners who went ahead backtracked a bit messily to be alongside their partners again.

"We are going to need to, uh, organize this a bit better," Andrea remarked from the back of the pack, waiting for the congested hallway to open up. She and Rajamon stepped out after the rest had, stretching out.

"So," Toby said, looking around. "... what do we do?"

"Panic?" Emily said in jest, smiling a little despite herself.

"Well, we don't know which way to go, so that's about as good an option as we've got," Kamomon said with a shrug, shaking his head.

Rajamon looked one way, then the next, and breathed out heavily through his nose. "I don't even know which way we came from," he grumbled, his tail twitching in irritation. "Where'd that little rocky weirdo go?"

"I'm serious," Toby said, a tinge of irritation inching into his voice. "Are we just gonna sit here?"

"No," Julian said, almost before the younger boy finished talking.

"We'll just, uh, figure it out, I guess," Simon said, rubbing the back of his head. He adjusted his goggles as a sort of nervous tic, and rolled his head as though to get a kink out of his neck.

"Here meaning 'get lost', yeom," Delfinimon remarked.

"Pretty much!" Simon agreed, shrugging. "We can at least try to find Gotsumon. Maybe."

"This way," Iguamon cut in, pointing down to the group's left. "We were going that way, if nothing else."

* * *

><p>Trusting the dinosaur's judgment, the group proceeded down the tunnel uneasily- warily, as though each step took them further away from their goal. To their relief, the path was mostly linear- a few offshoots led to little caves like the ones they had stayed in, but they walked for perhaps ten minutes without a fork in the path.<p>

"If we hear rumbling again, I say we book it," Faris said at one point, adjusting Delfinimon in his arms.

"Try to be optimistic," Emily replied. "It might be friendly for once."

"And the chances of that are...?" Andrea muttered, sighing and shaking her head. "Outside of that Deekamon weirdo, just about everything we've encountered except these guys," and she jerked a thumb at Rajamon, to indicate their partners, "has wanted to kill us. I'm surprised Gotsumon didn't just get us while we sle-"

"Gotsumon's a good guy," Lammon cut her off, her brows furrowing.

"Well it's true. For all we know, Gotsumon could have run off to find an Agent to lead back to us," Andrea resumed, shrugging. "Just sayin'."

"I don't think he'd do that," Rajamon said after a moment, shaking his head. "Lammon's, y'know, kind of a wuss..." He cast a look at the sheep; if she had heard, she didn't seem to take offense. "... but if Lammon says he wouldn't, then I believe her." He sounded like he almost didn't want to be saying it.

"Likewise," Egakumon chimed in; Kamomon gave an 'mmm' of concurrance, Iguamon nodded once, and Delfinimon nodded enthusiastically. Andrea sighed, and nodded after a moment.

"You'd know," she admitted, but looked forward. "... but that doesn't give us any clue of where to go."

They looked; right ahead of them was a notable fork in the path. "Great," Julian sighed. "What, are we going to flip a coin?"

Egakumon stuck his snout in the air and sniffed a few times. "... I got nothin'," he surmised after a second, shrugging apologetically.

Almost on-cue, however, from the darkness down the left path, a yellow nose poked forth into sight. They barely had a chance to note a pair of shining green eyes before the owner of the nose and eyes turned tail and darted. It yelled, and its voice echoed back: "They're coming! They're coming!"

"... that can't be good," Faris remarked, looking at the dolphin digimon he held.

"Follow him!" Simon barked, and took off, with Egakumon at his side; if only to keep him from getting himself mauled, the others exchanged looks and moved to follow. A patter of feet later, the digimon and their human partners were after the yellow creature. It was dark, and the lights seemed sparcer-placed than usual.

It didn't take long- this path was completeley linear, though dimly lit, and the footsteps of the digimon ahead of them were bouncing about in the narrow tunnel.

They suddenly spilled into a far larger cavern - the size of a fancy house's grand foyer, but flat all around. The ceiling was high, and the lights were almost startlingly bright (though they were still quite dim, it was simply more than they had become accustomed to in the caves).

All around were yellow creatures, which were clearly the same as the digimon they chased in; they were, as stated, yellow. They had what appeared to be hard shells on their backs and up onto their heads, and feather-like protrusions from their cheeks. Their undersides were purple, and each of their feet ended in silver claws.

It might be worth noting that there were a good fifteen of them gathered around.

There was a slight groan as their D-GEAR units lit up.

_Armadillomon. Child-level mammal digimon. Its back is covered with a hard shell, but it can sometimes get carried away and hurt itself. It attacks by rolling into a ball with its Diamond Shell attack and rushing its enemies._

"Something tells me this isn't a tea party," Rajamon growled, rearing down as though ready to attack- until he caught sight of a figure across the room, and he snarled. "Gotsumon!"

They looked- indeed, the little rock digimon sat near the far wall, looking quite battered but still holding fast to the egg that held what had been Drimogemon. If they cared to look around, they'd notice the masses of Armadillomon turning their attention to watch what was going to happen.

Gotsumon looked up and yelped, nearly dropping the egg he held. "Ah, it is- you, yes," he said, hardly audible from the distance. He set the egg down, got to shaky feet, and began to approach; almost instantly, Egakumon, Kamomon, and Iguamon rushed in front of the group, glaring hard.

"Care to explain?" Iguamon said, his tail whipping back and forth.

Gotsumon threw his hands up, then began to wring them.

"It is a very long story," he said in a truly wishy-washy manner, laughing nervously. "But, um... they..." he motioned around to the Armadillomon, "... I left the cave in the night, y-yes? Wandered up the cave a little. To make sure I knew where I was going, yes. And... well..."

"There are three of us that can digivolve," Rajamon whispered as he walked forward to join the digimon holding guard, keeping his eyes forward. "About six each, counting Gotsumon... Think we can handle it?"

Egakumon nodded. "Of course we ca-"

He found himself cut off, however, as Lammon broke through the line, no malice in her movement at all.

"What do you want?" she asked- not of Gotsumon, but looking around at the Armadillomon.

"Drimogemon said you would come," the one nearest her said, growling, "and we don't want you here."

"We're trying to get out," Toby said, then motioned to Gotsumon, "but you've, uh, kidnapped our tour guide."

"That is not what we mean," the Armadillomon snapped back. "You're enemies of Era. Nobody wants you in the Digital World!"

The kids looked at eachother helplesslly; it was Emily that spoke next. "To be honest, we don't really want to be here either," she said with a shrug. "It, uh, kind of wasn't a choice."

"So leave!" the spokes-mon replied. "Gotsumon is a traitor, but he knew where you were."

"Or he could have been working for you the entire time," Kamomon said under his breath.

"But now, you can't get out," another Armadillomon said, smirking. As he said that, there was a great rumbling, but this was unlike when Drimogemon appeared. Rather, it was like something with great, heavy feet was approaching through the tunnel.

That was, in fact, exactly the case. The group turned around just in time to see what it was.

It was huge. It looked profoundly like the Armadillomon, but with spikes protruding from all over its body - particularly a ridge of black ones down its back and on its sides. Curved, horn-like structures protruded from each side of its face, which was notably rounder than that of the Armadillomon. Spiked bracelets adorned each limb, and at the end of its tail was now a spiked, mace-like ball- which smashed into the sides of the tunnel, bringing down huge chunks of rock.

For the second time in such a short time, the D-GEAR units sprang to life.

_Ankylomon, adult-level dinosaur digimon. The evolved from of Armadillomon. While brave, it is not reckless. It can use its size to attack with its Megaton Press, or put its tail to use with its Tail Hammer attack._

"Let me guess, we have to fight that, yeom," Delfinimon remarked, looking up at Faris and nodding; he set her down on the ground.

"If you can do that- get bigger thing," Julian said quickly, in a low tone, "do that. One of you go for the big thing, everyone else keep the little ones at bay."

There was a quick nod of assent- and with no time to waste.

"**Tail Hammer**!" Ankylomon bellowed, swinging his tail hard at the wall- rocks began to fall, and the entrance (and exit) of the wall was quickly consumed by the debris.

"We're doomed," Faris blurted.

"Stay back!" Egakumon yelled; the kids did so. Almost as one, Simon, Andrea, and Julian's D-GEAR units began to glow- as did their partners.

"Egakumon kickstart digivolve to Shokunimon!"

"Rajamon kickstart digivolve to Baghamon!"

"Iguamon kickstart digivolve to Velocimon!"

Three adult-level digimon, three child-level digimon flanking them, and a good sixteen or so known hostiles at every turn.

No problem.

A few Armadillomon leapt at Lammon and Delfinimon; with a "**DolFin**!" and a "**Lamb Kick**!", they got beaned solidly in the face by (respectively) the dolphin's tailfin and the sheep's hind legs.

Kamomon didn't even wait to be attacked; he yelled out "Seagull Strike!" at the nearest Armadillomon, threading his feathery fingers together and smacking an Armadillomon square on its nose as though his clenched hands were a hammer.

Baghamon and Velocimon came to their aid; Velocimon went so far as to throw them with his head.

Shokunimon, meanwhile, was tasked with Ankylomon- it would be hardest to hit him, they figured, and if nothing else his paint would have the best chance of getting through the ankylosaur's armor.

"**Paint Blast**!" he yelled, spewing the corrosive paint, shot after shot, at his opponent.

What nobody noticed was Toby slinking away from the others towards Gotsumon, using the fact that the Armadillomon were occupied to reach him.

"Are you okay?" he said quickly to the rock digimon, who was staying very far back, flush against the wall. He almost didn't seen to notice the approach of the boy.

"I am fine, yes," Gotsumon replied nervously, clutching the egg tight. "I am sorry that..."

"We seem to be doing fine," the human said, smiling a little- the Armadillomon were proving disorganized at best, and though Shokunimon seemed to be making no progress whatsoever on the front of defeating ankylomon, he at least kept him cornered. "... and I think we'd just get more lost without you."

It was now that Andrea noticed Toby; she darted over as quickly as she could. "What are you doing?" she said, brow furrowed.

"Well, we can't get out without him," the boy reasoned, a determined, defiant expression on his face. "And Lammon said he was a good digimon."

Speaking of Lammon... she was knocked backwards by an Armadillomon; she groaned, pushing herself back up. She cast a look over at Toby with Gotsumon, however - simply for the way in which she reoriented herself- and smiled.

She turned away before she noticed that Toby's D-GEAR unit was starting to glow. Only when she was hit with the light that shot therefrom did she notice.

Kickstart digivolution, begin.

"Lammon, kickstart digivolve to..." her long, smoky ponytail merged into her body- and smoke took the place of her legs. A silver ring snapped in place near the end, as though a material thing could contain the smoke and keep it compacted. More smoky hair appeared on her head, mostly parted to once side; she grew greatly in size, and her eyes were now wide and pure purple. "Ariamon!"

Toby turned to look- and grinned widely.

"Four out of six," Shokunimon grunted- and looking away, was bucked on Ankylomon's head and thrown into the masses of Armadillomon. He recovered quickly, almost with a breakdancing-esque swirl of his legs to get Armadillomon away from him.

"Lammo- Ariamon!" he called, kicking an Armadillomon from a growing-weary Kamomon. "Its armor- Paint Blast!" He was cut off by having to attack.

The sheep leapt in where Shokunimon had been a minute before- quite literally leapt, as she seemed to be almost weightless. She landed lightly, and paced back and forth before the ankylosaur.

He growled.

"**Megaton Press**!"

Ankylomon threw himself - really, surprising for his bulk - up into the air, on a crash-course on his way down to Ariamon. Her eyes widened for a split second, before she called an attack of her own.

"**Vanish Strike**!"

She did just as one might imagine- suddenly, only a puff of smoke hung in the air where Ariamon stood a moment before. Ankylomon landed a second later- suddenly, smashing straight into his face at point-blank range, Ariamon appeared again, smashing her head into his. Her opponent snarled with pain.

She didn't wait- she yelled out "**Smokescreen**!", and then suddenly waved her body back and forth, releasing smoke as she did so. Ankylomon began to cough- and then yelped, as the smoke itself seemed to be hurting him.

He began to wave his tail again, but Ariamon simply smashed her head into him again.

That seemed to have been all it took- suddenly, the dinosaur was engulfed in bright glowing code. However, there was something different; instead of an egg being left behind when the code cleared, there was a very battered-looking Armadillomon.

"Aughhh, my head hurts," he groaned, holding his head with both hands.

Ariamon looked around herself; the other five digimon had managed to keep the Armadillomon at bay, though Toby was hiding halfway behind Gotsumon.

She smiled and bowed her head; she began to glow white once more, and in her place once more stood Lammon. The same happened for Velocimon, Baghamon, and Shokunimon- back to child stage they went, some of them breathing quite heavily.

"Way to go," Simon said, grinning, to the little lamb, who smiled modestly up at him. He then gave a high-five to his rabbit partner. "And you held your own, boyo. What do you expect with paint?"

"Ah, shyaddap," Egakumon said, putting his hands on his hips, but a grin was splayed across his face.

The once-Ankylomon groaned, which cut off more conversation, and lifted his head. He spoke to the nearest person- Julian, in this case.

"I am sorry," he said in a hoarse voice.

"After attacking us for being enemies of Era," Andrea pointed out, folding her arms. However, Iguamon shook his head.

"We can listen," he said, looking at the Armadillomon that lay before them. "Continue?"

"We do not have a choice," the Armadillomon said, shaking his head and coughing. "We just wanted to be left alone, but..."

"But that doesn't really happen," another Armadillomon, this one better off than the apparent leader, chimed in, coming forth to try and help the other up. "Era took over, and we thought that if maybe we defeated you-"

"He'd leave us alone," the leader picked up.

Emily frowned, and tilted her head. "That's... kinda bleak, yeah?" she said, looking at Kamomon. The bird nodded, sighing.

"It makes sense," he admitted, shaking his head. "Deekamon said that many Digimon under Era just take the path of least resistance."

"I do not blame you for fighting back," the Armadillomon rasped, and slowly seemed to be gaining his voice. "... but now we cannot say we did not try. We... will not tell Era where you went. You are going towards the Great Ocean, I assume?"

A nod passed around; at that, the Armadillomon smiled a bit. "Gotsumon has led you well. You are very close. Return to the main path - before you came down here - and it should only be a few minutes along, yet. Down the other fork."

"Oh, well- thank you," Rajamon said, a bit taken aback. "... if you're telling the truth," he added, so as not to be too out of character.

* * *

><p>The Armadillomon was, indeed, truthful, the kids found (after they had helped to dig them out of the cavern); they did as he had instructed, and before too long, they could hear the crash of waves from not too far away as they reached a sharp ascent.<p>

Before the uphill walk began, Gotsumon looked up at the group, and cast a look behind himself. "I... will be leaving you now, yes?" he asked a bit sheepishly, indicating the egg he held. "I need to take care of this egg. Drimogemon was..." he paused and looked for a word. "A good digimon, before Era. I want to see if I can rekindle that."

The group nodded.

"Thank you, Gotsumon," Faris was the first to say, smiling.

"Yeah, thanks, yeom!" Delfinimon chirruped.

"We'd be lost in here still, I bet, without you," Emily chuckled.

So it went- for a minute or two, goodbyes and pleasantries were exchanged. They watched as Gotsumon turned and walked back into the labyrinth of caves. They waited until he was completely out of sight, and then Simon looked up the hill.

"One step closer to that wisemon dude," he said, and they began up.

It was a steep, steep climb to be sure of it- it only seemed to become moreso as it went on, but onward they pressed. Kamomon flew a bit, but eventually the ceiling was low enough that it ceased to be an option; Delfinimon, not wishing to make her partner carry her up, lolloped along at a good-enough pace- clumsy, but not slow.

At last, the twelve reached the top. They stepped into the light, and were nearly blinded by the sudden change. In honesty, it lasted good couple minutes- minutes of yelping and covering their eyes, shading them with their hands to help themselves adjust.

It was overcast and grey, but surprisingly clear to look around, and smelled heavily of salt. Once they began to take looks around themselves, straight ahead was a vast expanse of steel-blue water. They were on a rocky outcropping in relatively shallow water.

It was when they turned around that they got a surprise.

Turning around from the way they came out into open air was a vast, dark, dank mini-city, right smack dab after the beach- it didn't appear to be that large at all. On a human scale, perhaps a few thousand people could have lived there; it only stretched a mile or two up the beach, its ends very well in sight. Dark clouds of smoke spewed out at regular intervals, and a menagerie of mechanical sounds drifted out.

"Well, we weren't told that that was here," Lammon remarked.


	6. Chapter 6: Seaside Sharpshooter

In the depths of the city- no, strike that. Under the depths of the city, feet beat hard on the ground, echoing through the sewer tunnels, a startling change from the otherwise (relative) silence.

"They have to be close," one whispered in a hushed, but urgent, tone to the other digimon riding on his back.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

There was a pause. "I hope you're right. ... You don't suppose Era has-"

"Don't even think about it," the first said back before she could even finish her thought. "We're here on a mission, and if we have to go in to get them ourselves, we're going to. The sovereigns chose them. Yggdrasil summoned them. If Era had already gotten them, we'd know."

The female digimon's eyes closed, and she sighed out deeply. "I know, I know. Let's go, then." Even as she said that, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed towards them from behind. "Run!" she hissed; her carrier needed no second bidding, taking off like a shot through the sewer tunnel.

* * *

><p>"So, uh, this a surprise?" Simon asked a bit sarcastically, shading his eyes as he looked over the skyline, and put his arms akimbo. It was still morning- if they could surmise the sun's vague position through the thick white clouds, it'd be perhaps ten, eleven in the morning. The sound of the ocean behind them and the city in front mingled into a wall of sound from every direction.<p>

"We've never been out of the Wide Forest, yeom," Delfinimon pointed out, "and things like this... don't exist there, yet. This is an Era city, I'd bet anything."

"So I don't think it existed before he appeared," Iguamon concurred, shaking his head.

However, Emily blinked a few times, and pointed towards the city. "... incoming," she said in a sort of flighty tone; they turned to look, and indeed, a figure was coming towards them, slowly. It looked... honestly, like a five-pointed star with legs and arms, with boots and gloves and a scarf trailing behind it.

The kids took it as a bad sign indeed their D-GEAR units already lit up.

"I'm learning to hate these things," Faris said in only a half-joking tone before they began to speak- but not in the same voice as usual.

"Is this thing workin'?"

The digimon nearly fell over themselves. "Deekamon!" was muttered here and there, and Egakumon personally went over and shoved his nose at the D-GEAR clipped to his partner's belt.

"That chip thing he put in," Toby reasoned, blinking a couple times. "Uh... ... do we just talk back?"

"Y'there?" Kamomon tried, jumping into the air as Emily held her D-GEAR nearer her face.

"Ah!" Deekamon's voice crackled through, and they could almost see the little weirdo smiling. "Good! It's working as planned, then."

Even Rajamon smiled a little, despite himself. Andrea was the next to talk, however. "We've only got a little bit of time, something's getting near-"

Deekamon seemed to take the short time to heart, and outright cut her off. "Then I'll be quick. You've reached the Great Ocean, I assume? Good." (They noticed he didn't even wait for a response.) "I've got a couple friends that should be coming to help you, to get you to where you'll need to submerge."

"Neither of them looks like a star, do they?" Faris cut in.

"No- a big dog and a cat. Why?"

"Because we're kind of busy," Lammon said, turning her attentions. The star-like digimon had gotten within ten meters; before anything more could happen, the D-GEARs all beeped as one. Their screens flickered- turned off for just a second, before they began to glow again. This time, the now-familiar digital voice started up.

_Starmon. Adult-level mutant digimon. Borne of the data of a space exploration program, it is said to fight only for what it thinks is just, using its Meteor Shower attack._

"'Just', huh?" Andrea remarked snidely.

"Wonder what they're calling 'justice' nowadays," Julian added, putting his hands in his pockets.

More comments couldn't be made, however, as Starmon came within earshot. "Look natural," Iguamon advised in a whisper; they took it to heart, and stood fast, looking at the approaching digimon.

"Well ain't y'all a bunch of funny-lookin' digimon," Starmon drawled, putting his hands on what could be assumed to be his hips. Julian's eye twitched a little bit at his accent.

"Well, we're n-" Toby began to say- he was going to say 'not digimon', presumably, before Delfinimon hopped in, sensing an impending disaster.

"New, yeom!"

"Don't give us away," Rajamon said in as quiet a voice as he could muster, before he smiled at Starmon. "We just got here."

"I can tell that," Starmon said; he was acting friendly. Why, then, had their D-GEAR units come to life? The kids began to get confused, but the Digimon seemed to be letting their guards down- which served just to confuse the kids further. "So why're y'all here?"

"Just traveling," Egakumon threw out immediately, shrugging. Starmon gave them a suspicious look up and down.

"Really, then?" he said, and folded his arms. "'Cause I've heard word that some suspicious sorts were comin' through the caves. Attacked an innocent Drimogemon, I reckon." The kids froze. "Y'all wouldn't'a heard of anythin' like that while you were passin' through?"

Before he even waited for an answer - before anyone could even start to attack he threw out his arms and began to yell: "**Meteor Sho**-!" whumph!

The kids had thrown up their arms to protect their faces, and the digimon were on the defensive- but all twelve gradually relaxed as they realized no attack was could only stare, dumbstruck, at what had happened.

Starmon was now on the ground- and looming over him, pinning him down, was a great black dog, with another creature sitting on his back, holding tight. The dog opened his mouth and bellowed, "**Schwartz Strahl**!" From his opened, roaring mouth he fired a blast of black energy, which smashed straight into Starmon. Starmon couldn't even get another attack out; he was rendered unconscious.

"Heel, boy," the digimon on the dog's back said, a bit sarcastically. "We don't need to haul around another digitama. We're good for now."

Now that the sudden scene had ended, the kids got a better look. The dog was big, and bony; really bony. His fur was black, with a brown underside; His spine and ribs stood out as though there were nothing between them and the skin. Red orbs seemed stuck into each of his limbs, and in place of dewclaws he had great razor-blades. A big, shining spiked collar settled around his neck, and all-too-long claws tipped each toe.

On his back was a much smaller digimon, much like a cat. Her colours were like a calico cat's; her eyes were bright yellow, and her hands (forepaws?) were covered with big brown gloves. Each big ear ended in a tuft of brown fur, as did her tail.

"Looks like we found Deekamon's friends," Emily remarked, smiling a bit. The dog and cat both smiled; Dobermon kneeled his front legs down.

"My name is Dobermon," he said, and tilted his head. "And this is Mikemon. I see you knew we were coming?"

"... kind of," Simon said. "Didn't know you were going to come like a bolt out of nowhere."

"That was pretty neat, though," Rajamon said, grinning at Dobermon. Dobermon smiled thinly back.

"You guys were Deekamon's charges?" Mikemon asked, hopping off of Dobermon's back- she was just about the size of all the partners. She stuck her hip out at an angle, hands on her hips.

"Yep!" Egakumon said enthusiastically, pumping his fist.

"Sadly," Rajamon added.

"... yes," Iguamon said, looking between the others as though asking if they had anything else they wanted to add. "We were with Deekamon until just a couple days ago."

"And then the children arrived," Lammon motioned her head towards the humans.

Delfinimon grinned a bit sheepishly, and nodded. "It's been kinda crazy ever since, yeom."

"We can assume," Dobermon said, paused, and then explained: "The news is spreading quickly. If I were you, I would stay on your guards."

"... what news, that we're going around getting attacked by agents?" Kamomon asked, tilting his head; Mikemon looked prepared to answer, before her ears perked up.

The cat's head snapped around in the direction from whence they had come. Dobermon followed her gaze, and so did the group- a wide, tall sewer pipe draining out into the ocean. A low, droning buzz escaped the pipe, the very sound causing ripples in the water.

"We'll be right back," Mikemon said, clambering onto Dobermon's back. They didn't say anything more as the pair took off, Mikemon holding on to one of Dobermon's nigh-exposed vertebrae as though she were on a bucking bronco.

"..." Toby stared after as the dog and cat leapt into the shallow water and dashed into the pipe. "... those guys are kinda weird." The others seemed to agree.

"No freakin' kidding."

"Seriously."

"Well, if they're friends of Deekamon..."

There was a sort of uneasy silence for a few minutes; the group shuffled and tried to get a better bearing on their surroundings. They cast cautious looks around and in towards the buildings, as though waiting for another to come. Starmon showed no signs of stirring. "I hope those guys weren't just a distraction or something," Andrea remarked, "to get us to wait here while something else-"

Julian stepped over to Andrea, cutting her off, and looked her dead in the eye. "Do you ever stop thinking the world is against you?" he said in a completely flat voice, folding his arms.

"Excuse us for being cautious!" Rajamon chimed in, looking suspiciously up at Julian as he curled around Andrea's legs.

"Fighting isn't going to get us anywhere," Iguamon snapped straight back, stepping beside his partner, "especially if you keep trying to start it."

"Is this normal?" Emily whispered to Kamomon, who sighed and nodded, looking up at his parter.

"Those two have never gotten along. ... those two, and Egakumon. None of them have ever really gotten along too well, really..."

"Like, a Mexican standoff?" the girl with bleached-blond bangs asked, putting a thumb to her chin in thought. The seagull cocked an eyebrow.

"A what-now?"

"... nevermind."

"You're weird, Emily," Kamomon said, but a smile was plastered on his face, and Emily smiled back. He then looked over at the pipe; he looked just in time. Almost as suddenly as they had gone, Dobermon and Mikemon broke into view again, looking a bit battered and beaten as they stopped in front of the group again.

"Welcome back?" Faris tried, raising an eyebrow. Dobermon was breathing heavily, and bared his teeth as he shook his head.

"Water's not safe," he said, still shaking his head. "Got Agents in the sewers. Lots of 'em... so they're probably in the water too."

"We gotta find somewhere to hide," Mikemon continued, casting a suspicious look over her shoulder. She gritted her teeth, and looked at the city. "Think we can make it to...?"

Dobermon nodded. "Yes. Of course we can." He looked now to the group. "Follow me. We'll... go slowly. So you can follow on foot."

"Wait!" Kamomon said, holding up a hand. He turned his attention to Rajamon, Iguamon, and Lammon. "... you guys think you can carry us?"

* * *

><p>Kamomon's suggestion wasn't as bad as it suggested- within a moment or two, the three whose attention the bird had gotten now stood in their Adult forms. Andrea, Julian, and Toby each sat on their respective partner's backs. As for the others? Simon (with Egakumon piggybacking) managed to fit on Velocimon's back along with Julian; Emily, Kamomon, all fit on the large Baghamon's back. Only Delfinimon went along with Toby, as the sheep didn't think she could carry altogether too many. Faris, meanwhile, managed to make himself relatively comfortably - for both parties - on Dobermon's back, though his protruding spine bothered him just a titch.<p>

"We good to go?" Mikemon asked, crawling up Faris' back. With a nod from Dobermon and the three Adult-level partners, they took off with Dobermon in the lead.

Even with their weighty loads, they moved far faster than human feet (and the stubbly legs of the Digimons' child levels) could carry them. Following after the dog, they shot straight into the belly of the beast- or, the buildings, as it were. Dobermon led them through a wild set of alleyways- such to the point that they scarcely saw another soul, despite hearing quite enough of them.

"Geeze!" Faris exclaimed, holding on tight to Dobermon's collar. "You're fast for such a skinny pup, ain't you?" The dog digimon merely threw a smirk over his shoulder and continued running.

Before long, they reached another sewer opening- this one was quite dry. The wide pipe opening led under a road and, it seemed, further underground- perhaps it had been a river in days past, and came out at some other part of the city, or into the ocean.

"Go quickly," Dobermon said, kneeling to let Faris off of his back. The partners followed suit, and almost immediately turned back into their child-level forms. It was no surprise- they were tired.

"No more digivolving today," Lammon said, stretching her legs out. Mikemon hopped off of Dobermon's back, and took the lead. Into the wide pipe they went; it was only about ten feet long, and just as wide across.

Inside was a room- rectangular, perhaps ten by twenty feet; and sparsely decorated. There was room, at any rate, for the six partner-pairings, Dobermon, and Mikemon. Though it was a bit cramped, there was not much in the way of furniture to get in the way. A single lantern - this one actual normal light, not the eery red light of the caverns - hung from the ceiling. Between that and what light came in from outside, it was dark but easy enough to see one another.

"Swanky, yeom," Delfinimon remarked in jest, laughing a little.

The partner digimon sat themselevs down first; the humans followed suit, and lastly Dobermon lay down with Mikemon at his side.

"The news has been spreading," the dog said, "as we said earlier."

"What news?" Toby inquired, blinking.

"That you're here!" Mikemon said, holding her hands out palms-up. "We've heard about it for years, y'know. Waiting." The kids seemed... confused at best, and the digimon seemed curious- perhaps they had heard some permutation of this before, but wanted to hear of it from another party.

"You don't think Deekamon was the only one who knew, right?" Dobermon said, smiling thinly again. "There may not be a digimon alive who doesn't know about it... Era's made sure of that." His red eyes narrowed. "That's why the Agents have been attacking you."

"... because people knew about us?" Andrea said, raising an eyebrow. "Explain what you mean."

"You hold the Virtues," the dog said. "The sovereigns chose you to protect the Digital World from what threatens it... and Era knows they mean him. He knew this would happen." He paused for dramatic effect, then motioned to the digimon. "You twelve are the only ones that can do it. It is the will of Yggdrasil."

"So," Mikemon picked up. "For years he's been spreading lies- propaganda - that it's you who are the threat. All across the Digital World, you're going to run into digimon who are going to want to help you..." she motioned to herself and Dobermon, who nodded his head. "And Agents. And... digimon who aren't Agents, but buy the hype... or just want to stop fighting Era."

The kids sat in stunned silence, looking between eachother and their partners; their partners were looking, one and all, at Dobermon with determined expressions.

"There were supposed to be fourteen," Dobermon remarked in a somber tone. "What happened to Sampamon?"

"... we don't know," Lammon admitted, hanging her head. "We're looking for her almost as much as we're trying to find Wisemon."

"We'll find her!" Simon said suddenly, pumping his fist. "And her partner, too, whoever he- she- ... they are!"

Dobermon scrutinized the boy, before he nodded. "I believe you, and I wish you luck. You are going to need Sampamon and her partner."

"Wait," Iguamon spoke up, folding his arms. "Wisemon should be able to help us with that, shouldn't he?" he asked, looking around; Mikemon nodded.

"If nothing else, he can tell you where to begin to look," the cat mused, nodding thoughtfully. "... we still need to tell you where to go, unless you want to dive into the water and knock on doors until you find him."

Delfinimon and Faris smiled; the others sighed.

"Well, hooowdy," a voice from the pipe said, drawling much the same as Starmon had. The group turned to look.

In the light stood a silhouette; they could make out glowing yellow eyes on an all-black face, a big cowboy hat and a tattered scarf. Cowboy boots, complete with spurs, were on the newcomer's feet, and he held a revolver pistol in each hand.

However, most remarkable was that his entire torso seemed to be one collossal revolver in and of itself.

In the dark room, the D-GEAR units beeped and began to speak again.

_Deputymon, adult-level mutant digimon. It always upholds justice with its partner Starmon, but it has a carefree side that loves to gamble- especially Russian Roulette. Beware its Justice Bullet- the gun on its torso isn't just for show._

"Oh, no," Rajamon groaned. "Another country bumpkin."

"Y'all are the ones who attacked my deputy," Deputymon drawled at Dobermon as he stepped further into the room, twirling one of the guns he held and keeping the other one trained on the group at large. "And y'er harborin' enemies of Era, ain't'cha?" That's treason."

Dobermon snarled and reared down as though to strike; before he could, Deputymon whipped his sights onto the dog pulled the trigger. "Down, puppy!" The bullet from his gun burst on impact, but it laid the dog down on the ground. He was still breathing, and showed no sign of reverting to an egg, but Mikemon yelped and ran to his side immediately.

The cowboy digimon's eyes lit up with mirth. as he entered the room proper, pacing in front of the group of digidestined and their partners.

"Ain't it funny that I'm the sheriff 'round here? What with my name and all. And this place- seaside, y'all. Ain't no place for a digimon like me, but I ain't gonna complain."

They didn't seem amused.

"Y'all are all enemies of Era, ain'tcha?" he asked, looking over them and continuing to twirl his guns. He didn't wait for an answer. "I'd know it anywhere. Ain't no humans 'round these parts, and we all know what humans in the area means."

Egakumon growled and began to move towards Deputymon, but Simon grabbed his tail. When the rabbit turned to look in amazement, Simon shook his head. "You're going to burn yourself out," the boy whispered, "if you keep trying to get into every fight in front of you."

"So, what?" Delfinimon said urgently, frowning.

"Panic?" Rajamon replied with a roll of his eyes. He glared out at Deputymon, but said nothing higher than a whisper.

"Everyone who can do that... digivolve thing is at their limits," Toby said, frowning, and then added with a look at Egakumon, "or going to get himself hurt. We can't exactly fight."

"Sure we can."

It was an unexpected statement from Emily; the entire group turned to look at her. Her eyebrows were knitted in concentration, and she cast a look at her D-GEAR.

Kamomon nodded and stood up.

"One'a y'all's fightin' back!" Deputymon chuckled. "Well, don't worry, kiddies, I'll only give this one what's comin' to him. The rest'a y'all can come peacefully."

Kamomon, if he had teeth, would have gritted them as he darted forward and across the room. "**Seagull Strike**!" he exclaimed, holding his hands up above his head and preparing to hit Deputymon.

"**Justice Bullet**!" Deputymon called out, and from the gun barrel on his chest there fired a massive bullet on a crash-course with Kamomon. It struck true, and threw the seagull almost all the way back to the group.

What they didn't expect was that he got right the heck back up without even giving himself a second to rest, and opened his beak as he rushed. "Ocean Blast!"

This time, he fired a shot of water; and this time, the attack actually connected. However, Deputymon leapt out of the way of the seagull's charge, leading Kamomon to barely avoid running into the wall.

"Yeh've got some life in 'yeh, don't yeh?"

"He's lost it, yeom," Delfinimon remarked to anyone that could hear her. Even as she said so, however, it seemed that it was Kamomon's time to shine - pardon the expression- as he was encased in the white light that signalled only one thing.

_Kickstart Digivolution, begin._

"Kamomon, kick-start digivolve to..." Mid-stride, Kamomon's legs grew longer and his body altogether taller. All of the weight in his upper arms seemed to move to his forearms, until his upper arms were thin and his forewarms were nearly ovals tipped with claws; tufty feathers sprouted on his elbows. His tail grew longer, and split down the middle; the feathers seemed to bend at two places. The toes of his boots covered his feet; pants and a vest appeared to cover his body. A red bandana tied around his head, and a ponytail-like trio of feathers were tied behind his head. Last of all, a flintlock pistol, complete with holster, attached itself to a newly-formed belt. "Kaizokumon!"

"Fancy tricks y'got, pardner," Deputymon drawled, twirling his pistols again and looking smug. "But y'ain't got nothin' on me."

Almost instantly, Kaizokumon drew his pistol. "**Flintlock Shock**!" He pulled the trigger; a blindingly-bright bullet flew at Deputymon, and - as though just to prove a point, went straight down the cowboy's torso-gun's barrel.

Deputymon stumbled backwards with a 'whoof!', and his eyes narrowed. "Y'er just doin' that to taunt me, ain't'cha?" he spat, and pointed both of his revolvers at the bird.

"Aye, matey," Kaizokumon replied- and the distinct piratey accent in his voice was evident. He presumably had too much dignity to stoop to saying 'arr'.

Deputymon glared, and one of his bright yellow eyes twitched visibly.

"Y'er just playin' with me, pardner."

"Aye." The bird smiled.

Kaizokumon then rushed at Deputymon, stopping only so short of crashing into him. "**Kaizoku Kick**!" the be-feathered pirate yelled, one foot glowing with energy as he delivered a sound, solid, high roundhouse kick to his opponent.

This sent Deputymon flying into the wall behind him. His hat fell off, and- bam. Out like a light.

Kaizokumon frowned and looked at the cowboy digimon for a moment, before he turned to the group- and grinned. "I donno, mateys," he said, obviously quite amused by the excuse to say that, "I kinda like this. Bein' tall's fun."

Even as he said that, however, his body was covered with bright light. It dispersed, little orbs that drifted away, leaving only the pronouncedly pants-devoid Kamomon in its wake. He sighed dramatically, but good-naturedly, and walked over to the group again, where he found himself pulled into a hug from his partner.

Emily grinned. "Cool. My partner is a pirate. I always did like them."

"Looks like I'm the only one left, yeom," Delfinimon said, rolling her eyes, but smiling regardless. "Aw, no problem, I'm gonna be more awesome than all y'all, anyway."

"That's the spirit," Faris said, smiling.

"Are you okay?" Lammon asked as she crept over to Dobermon. The dog sort of rolled over to be more on his feet, growled a bit- Lammon took a step back, just in case.

Dobermon shook his head, and opened one eye to look at the lamb. "I'm fine." As though to demonstrate his point, he stood up- a bit shakily. Mikemon put one of her hands on his side, as though for support.

"We had better move before he comes to," Rajamon provided, looking cautiously at the unconscious cowboy. "Don't think I can handle any more of that accent."

"Likewise," Andrea said, nodding, then looked at Dobermon and Mikemon. "Deekamon said you would help us find where to go?"

Mikemon nodded her head. "Wisemon's base can be a bit tricky to find, especially if you submerge at the wrong point." She looked at Dobermon; he nodded, and she gingerly climbed up onto his back again. She cast a look to the others. "Do you guys think you can follow? It's not far, and I don't think Dobermon will be going as fast as he may like."

Dobermon snorted.

Simon looked at the others, who were nodding and shrugging with a chorus of 'sure's and 'whatever's. He looked at Egakumon, who gave him a thumbs-up. "We're good to go."

* * *

><p>Even in his injured state, it was a bit hard to keep up with Dobermon. Only through periodic tugs on his collar from Mikemon would he allow the kids to catch up. It didn't seem intentional, even, but...<p>

He led them through a few more back alleys- further down from where they had emerged from the Proxy Caves, and further back out towards the beach. They could hear a murmur of digimon here and there, perhaps who had caught a glance, but the six digimon and six humans were surprisingly stealthy. (Except for when Simon paused to admire a bit of spraypainted art on the wall.)

It was a good fifteen to twenty-minute run of trying to avoid being seen, avoiding hitting anything, and keeping Dobermon in sight. The kids suspected they took a longer route than they needed to in the name of chasing off any potential followers, but eventually they emerged onto the beach.

"Hate doing that," Faris groaned, nearly doubling over, one hand on his knees and the other on his side. "There's too much running around in this place."

Julian looked as though he were going to make a comment, but even he was winded. Instead, he turned to Iguamon. "You good?"

Iguamon nodded. "You forget, we're practically made for this." He paused, and coughed, and looked up and to his left- away from Julian. "But that would have been much easier if I were Velocimon." Julian smirked a bit.

"I'm good to go!" Egakumon said, jumping into the air- and spectacularly failing to land, instead face-planting into the sand. Simon bust out laughing. "Or not," he added sheepishly.

Rajamon and Lammon stretched their legs out, while Delfinimon groaned and flopped over, saying, "Never again. My fins are gonna have callouses on them forever."

Dobermon smirked, and sat down on the sand. He turned his head to the water. "Here," he said, looking out. It was hard to tell how he knew, as it was an unremarkable stretch of beach like any other. "Wisemon's base is out in the ocean here."

"Uh," Toby said slowly. "... we can't breathe underwater."

Mikemon spoke up, now. "So?" she said, her tail twitching; the kids stared, but the digimon seemed unfazed.

"Digial world works differently," Delfinimon provided, smiling a bit. "You can't breathe water in your world, right?" The humans nodded.

"But do you remember when we got reformatted?" Rajamon asked, looking up at the partners. "One of the Great Ocean's format changes- it mixes your data around, I mean. so you can, too."

Lammon nodded. "The Proxy areas move data from one place to another, but also optimize it for where they're going, if it needs it. If we went back to the Wide Forest, we wouldn't need the ability anymore, so..."

When the kids looked at eachother and blinked, likely wondering how they knew this, Kamomon filled in. "Deekamon."

"Figures," Andrea said, but looked cautiously at the water. "You're sure about this?"

"Absolutely," Dobermon said, nodding his head. He looked back down the beach towards the entrance to the proxy caves, which was farther away than they perhaps thought it was. "We should go, Mikemon. We've done more than we planned to, already."

"Keep in touch," Emily said with a little wave, smiling. Mikemon smiled.

"Deekamon's got that covered. We'll get to you if we ever need you 'round here, y'know. If we get arrested and need someone to pay bail or something."

"Good luck. It's cliche to say, but we're all counting on you," Dobermon said with a bow of his head. Mikemon waved. Just like that, Dobermon took off like a bullet, kicking up sand as he did.

The kids and digimon alike watched him leave, until he was nothing but a little black dot rushing off down the beach, with a little orange-ish speck on his back.

Simon was the first to look back to the ocean.

It was steel grey-blue, and the clouds overhead made it look forboding, but the water was smooth except for the gentle lapping of waves on the beach.

"So. Last one in's a rotten egg?"


	7. Chapter 7: Deeper in the Mellow

The first thing the kids noticed was that the ocean was warm; it was like a cool glass of water, instead of the usual chill of even the warmest large bodies of water. They knew it was hardly the most bizarre thing that could - was going to - happen.

To individuals used to breathing air and air alone, going underwater was a difficult shift to even comprehend. Even though they believed what they were told- that they would be able to breathe-, the kids and digimon alike seemed less than enthusiastic about inhaling water. Even Delfinimon (who was, after all, a dolphin and not a fish) was apprehensive. Eventually, however, it was Egakumon (of course) who volunteered to, well, test the water.

The rabbit walked out into the surf, took a big breath (puffing his cheeks out), and dunked his head into the water. A moment later, the rest of him followed suit. Soon, his head popped up with a splash. "Feels weird at first," he said, then coughed, "but it's just like breathin' air!"

Gingerly, the kids and other digimon followed suit, the water soaking their clothes (and in some of the digimon's cases, fur) through and weighing them down as they waded out into the ocean. One by one, they swallowed their fears and took the plunge.

The water rushed into their lungs... and breathing it in felt as natural as breathing air, once they finished their initial, instictive panic. (The fact that it felt so normal really didn't help the fact that they were panicking about it.)

"This is nuts!" Simon exclaimed; while his voice was a bit muffled, it was surprisingly clear.

"Surreal," Emily said with a grin, looking up. They had walked into the water just enough to cover their heads, feet still in the sand. "I guess the salt water not burning our eyes is part of the deal?"

"I'd guess so," Kamomon said, and habitually, tried to flap his wings. Instead of rising into the air, he rose a bit in the water, and looked surprised. "... this is going to be hard to get used to," he said, heaving a great sigh.

"Seems like digital world water doesn't quite follow the same rules as ours," Julian remarked, moving his hand through the water; while there was resistance, it was far from what it might have been in the real world. Iguamon nodded, before Julian continued. "... this makes no sense."

"A lot of stuff doesn't," Toby said with a sort of resigned shrug and half-smile. He looked over at Delfinimon, who seemed to be trying to work out the difference between her clumsiness on land and her movement here. The big tail (and lack of legs) that was a hinderance on the ground moved the little cetacean through the water with surprising grace.

It was only here that they noticed that Faris hadn't submerged yet.

Delfinimon popped her head above the water to look at her partner, and tilted her head. "Fare?" she prodded- the boy with green-dyed strangs of hair was standing a ways back, waist-deep in the water.

"Uh," he blurted, before he shrugged. "... it's nothing," he said. Delfinimon shrugged, and ducked below the water; a moment later, Faris followed suit, swimming forward to meet the others.

"So what way do we go from here?" Andrea asked, looking around in the water. It was clear, but still murkier than it would be above the surface, and they were as lost as they usually were.

"This way," Iguamon said almost instantly, pointing out into the ocean.

"No offense, Iguamon," Simon said, blinking a couple times, "but how do you know? I mean, it looks like you're just guessing."

"Try not to doubt him, broski," Egakumon said. "Iguamon's a smart cookie."

"Well, it's straight out to this point that we were led," Rajamon reasoned, his tail swaying in the water, "and there's only one way to go, and that's out. So it's not so much intelligence as it is simple logic." With a murmur of assent and 'I guess that makes sense's, the group at large turned.

"I'll lead, yeom," Delfinimon chirrupped, swimming ahead. Faris coughed once and took off after her, almost (almost!) able to keep up with her pace.

"Figures he'd get the fish," Andrea said. Though she couldn't see him, as he was standing behind her, she could almost feel Julian about to remark, and continued. "And yes, I know dolphins are mammals, not fish."

Julian smirked.

* * *

><p>"Slow down, you two!"<p>

So Toby requested, voicing the thoughts of the other ten as they progressed into the ocean; it was unsure if those to whom it was adressed even heard. The dolphin and her partner were swimming far ahead of the others. Toby and Lammon came up in second, with Egakumon, Simon, Julian, and Iguamon after that; Emily and Kamomon were swimming at a leisurely pace, while Andrea and Rajamon, bringing up the back, obviously wanted to be underwater as little as possible.

"Asking Faris to slow down is like asking a dog to stop barking," Julian remarked dryly (as ironic as the phrasing on that was). "He's always been like that."

"Oh, yeah," Emily said, coming up nearer. "I forgot you two are-"

"Brothers, yes," Julian cut her off, nodding.

"You don't act like it," Simon mused; Egakumon looked over at him. "Well, me and my sister argue all the time. ... like, all the time."

"Sorta like us," the rabbit digimon filled in, grinning at Iguamon. Iguamon looked at him unreadably; Egakumon wasn't fazed. "We're like a bunch'a brothers and sisters."

"We didn't-" Julian paused, and looked away and to the side, his expression unscrutiable. "I mean, we haven't lived together since he was five. Kept in touch, but we only see eachother a couple times a year. No time to start hating eachother."

"Awkwaaard," Egakumon mumbled, and was smacked upside the back of the head by Iguamon.

A ways ahead, Delfinimon looked over at her partner. "That true?" she asked in a low voice, slowing her swim a little bit.

"Huh?" Faris said, as though he didn't hear- though he clearly had, as he was looking a bit uncomfortable. "Oh yeah. That. No big deal!" he finished, smiling. "I mean, seriously. He's kind of, y'know, overzealous sometimes. And a serious know-it-all. Jules is cool and all, but. Yeah." Delfinimon raised an eyebrow, but after a second, she smiled and nodded.

The group pressed on; it was hard to say how far they had gone, as after the sloping beach behind them was faded away, everything looked the same. They sank lower and lower, periodically, but the ocean floor was a good ways below them yet. It was getting increasingly darker as on they swam.

In fact, it took them a good two hours before anything of real interest happened; they were getting increasingly tired as they pressed on through the water, but it was almost depressingly uneventful.

Until the realization that their D-GEAR units worked underwater hit them, whether they wanted to know it or not.

In the murky water, the screens lit up; it was easy to see. For a second, they wondered whether it would serve as a beacon to any potential attackers, until they realized it would serve to be redundant.

_Whump. Blub._ "AUGH!" "**FARIS**!"

That was the sound of a decidedly less-friendly dolphin smashing into Faris, and Delfinimon's reaction. The other kids and digimon stopped almost dead in their tracks (or, 'tracks' as it were), almost considering backpedaling.

_Dolphmon. Adult-level sea animal digimon. It's incredibly intelligent- most digimon can't comprehend its thoughts. It can swim at incredibly high speeds, and attacks with sound waves using its Pulse Blast attack._

"Oh, that's ironic," Faris groaned as he was knocked off course, catching a glimpse of what just struck him; it looked like a dolphin, much like his partner, but larger- more tattered, perhaps. It had a broad scar across its nose, and its back was lined with torn-looking fins. It was blue on the top, and whiet under; its green eyes were narrowed. Faris began to sink, unable to tread water quite at the moment; quickly, Delfinimon darted under him and held him up, her purple eyes betraying her worry.

"Why are you here," the Dolphmon snarled, turning to look at the group, baring entirely-too-sharp teeth.

"We're here to see-" Lammon said, but Dolphmon barked over her voice and cut her short.

"Of course you are! Why else would you be!"

"You asked, buddy," Simon grumbled. Dolphmon turned to glare.

"We don't need you here," the less-friendly dolphin growled, and what he said next was slightly surprising. "Agents of Era are not welcome!"

Kamomon was the first to speak up, spreading his wing-like arms wide. "We're not with-" Once again, the hostile dolphin leapt in before the sentence could be completed.

"You're not fooling anyone," he spat, and motioned with his head. "Now is your one chance to leave." From behind them, two small digimon - both green, with blue stripes. Each of its four legs ended with one claw, and there was a red mohawk-like ridge on its back. It was roughly the size of any of the given partner digimon; once more, the D-GEAR units chose now to pipe up.

_Betamon. Child-level amphibian personality. A shy digimon with shocking electrical powers. It has trouble distinguishing between friend and foe, especially when it attacks with a million-volt Electric Shock underwater._

Before anyone could say anything, Faris spoke up. "Fat freakin' chance," he said- not a yell, not a challenge, but a simple statement.

"Faris, don't get yourself killed," Delfinimon piped up quietly. "Y'know you're my partner and I've waited my whole life for this, but you're kind of heavy." The boy laughed a bit despite himself, as Dolphmon and the Betamon turned on him, the two behind the group advancing by dipping under the others. He mouthed 'go' very quickly to the group.

The remainder of the group blinked a couple times; Egakumon was the first to do so, suddenly dunking himself further into the water as quietly as he could. Simon shrugged to the group and followed suit; eventually, everyone except Julian and Iguamon were slowly descending into the water.

"Faris, what-"

"Trust him on this," Iguamon said quietly, tugging at Julian's hand. Faris was backing away from Dolphmon slowly, Delfinimon following. The dinosaur and the older boy followed the rest of the group; there was a bit of an overhang sticking up from the ground, and they had seemed to have chosen there to wait until whatever on earth it was that Faris was doing got done with.

"What now?" Delfinimon hissed out of the corner of her mouth, paddling backwards.

"Good queston," Faris replied simply, and suddenly turned and swam like the wind. Delfinimon gave a little 'gk!' and took off after him; there was a slight delay from behind them.

"Look for the others!" the Dolphmon commanded; the two Betamon dispersed, almost immediately heading downward, and Dolphmon then gave chase to the smaller dolphin and her partner.

There was a flurry of activity all of a sudden; from below, there were a number of yells and attack names thrown this way and that. Obviously, the Betamon had found the group.

"Crap," Faris hissed, as the Dolphmon gained on him; Delfinimon suddenly whipped around, suddenly, and smashed her tail-fin straight into Dolphmon's nose.

"**DolFin**!"

Dolphmon reared back and growled, flinching for just a second; in that space, Faris remarked, "and you tell me not to get myself killed."

Delfinimon smirked.

Delfinimon then began to glow.

_Kickstart digivolution, begin._

"Delfinimon, kickstart digivolve to..." Delfinimon quite suddenly grew much more large and slender. Her tail re-formed into a curved, sharp shape; her rounded head-fins sharpened, while the fin on her back grew substantially, while another smaller one sprung up below it. Her face lost much of the stop between her muzzle and her forehead; spiky fins grew from her cheeks. Her arms grew, with fins on the shoulders; clawed fingers grew on her hands, and blue-and-yellow armor snapped onto her arms. "Shayumon!"

"You're a freakin' shark!" Faris exclaimed, grinning broadly.

Shayumon smirked, seeming a bit eager to show off her new sharp teeth.

"No difference," Dolphmon grumbled, and opened his mouth.

"**Pulse Blast**!"

Glowing concentric circles spilled from his mouth, growing the further they got away from him; they smashed into Shayumon, sending her tumbling tail-over-head backwards in the water.

"**Wavebreak Crash**!" she called back the second she was upright. A localized jet of water suddenly pushed her at Dolphmon at high speed, crashing into his body with her shoulder and arm.

Dolphmon bucked his head, thrashing his body wildly to dislodge Shayumon. She growled, using her arms to hold fast to the dolphin.

"**Pulse Blast**!" Dolphmon yelled again, the waves of sound colliding with Shayumon almost as soon as they left his mouth. She growled and let go of him, backing up nearer Faris.

"Just a flesh wound," she grumbled, before she swam forward at her target. She turned at the last second, turning almost 180 degrees.

"**Tail Saw**!"

The edge of her curved tail began to glow, and cut right into Dolphmon as though it were a blade.

Dolphmon seemed prepared to attack again, but the twin Betamon - looking very much worse than they started - swam up quickly.

"Dolphmon, dolphmon!" one cried, waving his one-clawed arms.

"Dolphmon, listen!" the other cut in, wiggling her body. The two looked at eachother suspiciously, before:

"They've got virtues!" both blurted at once. Dolphmon raised his eyebrows.

"Any Agent can say that," he said, keeping his eye on Faris and Shayumon. "Did they prove it?"

"Yeah!" One of the Betamon yelped. Dolphmon narrowed his eyes.

"What about these ones?"

One of the Betamon swam up to Faris; she grabbed the D-GEAR straight off of his belt, and looked at it carefully. She nodded quite vigorously. "Yeah, yeah!"

Dolphmon had a sudden and total change of character. His eyes lost their ferocity, and he seemed to grow quite sheepish.

"Er," he tried.

"I think y'got something to explain to all of us, yeom," Shayumon said. She looked at Faris, and pointed at her dorsal fin.

Faris looked over at her, and nodded. He swam closer, and grabbed onto the large fin. He whispered: "It's so weird seeing a giant shark do that 'yeom' thing." Shayumon grinned and rolled her eyes, but motioned to Dolphmon and the Betamon as she swam off towards where the others waited.

* * *

><p>"You can't be too careful," Dolphmon explained, flanked by the Betamon, as the group settled on a cliff shelf, barely enough to comfortably seat the humans and five non-digivolved digimon, even with Faris choosing to stay holding on to Shayumon's back and shoulders, the giant shark effortlessly holding her place floating in the water.<p>

"But you could try not to attack something that can't fight back," Simon grumbled.

"I'm fiiiine, yo," Faris said with a dismissive wave of his hand, even as he still felt a sharp, throbbing ache in his side. Dolphmon looked at him, and bowed his head.

"My apologies for that," the dolphin digimon said, but continued without a pause. "Wisemon is under almost-constant threat these days. We cannot risk leaving any intruders uninspected."

There was a grumbling of assent and understanding from the group at large, though not without some small amount of begrudging.

"You are... guards, then?" Kamomon asked, looking between the dolphin and the amphibians. They nodded in near-unison.

"Proud servants of Wisemon," one of the Betamon replied, wiggling his entire body.

"Or, Dolphmon under Wisemon, as it is," the other chimed in; the first glared at her, and she just smiled. Dolphmon shot them a look, and they both returned to blank expressions in a heartbeat.

That done, Dolphmon turned to look at the gathered. "You are the Virtue holders, as I understand it? You have the digivices?" he inquired, and motioned his head towards the D-GEAR units they each held (except for Faris', whose D-GEAR was still being held by one of the Betamon; as it was mentioned, the Betamon in question swam up to Faris and Shayumon and carefully handed it over).

"Apparently," Andrea said offhandedly, holding it up.

"And we're their partners, obviously," Rajamon cut in, laying down. He was obviously not having the best of times underwater, and being on any sort of solid ground again was a pleasure.

"Obviously," Dolphmon echoed, but he smiled. "If this is true, then we can let you pass."

The kids looked at eachother; well, that was a relief, at least, until Toby spoke up. "That'd be great," the short boy said, "except I don't think we know where to go, exactly." They were close, or on the right track at least; that much was obvious, if only because of the guards with which they now conversed, but...

"Oh!" Dolphmon exclaimed, and shook his head. "Yes. I... cannot leave my post. This distraction has been risky enough. Betamon, will you two lead them?"

"Sir yes sir," the male Betamon tittered.

"Whatever you say, Dolphmon, sir," the female added with a salute.

Dolphmon nodded once, and already began to move backwards. "It is not far. I wish you good luck." And with that, the dolphin took off again like a blue shot in the water.

"Funny guy," Emily remarked, rubbing the back of her head. Kamomon nodded his agreement and mirrored the head-rubbing motion, one hand on his hip.

Before they went off again, Egakumon turned to Shayumon. "So you digivolved too! 'Bout time," he drawled, grinning wide.

"Not entirely too bad," Iguamon said flatly, looking the shark up and down.

"It's only been two days, yeom," Shayumon said, smirking.

After a moment, though, Rajamon groaned. When the others looked at him, he explained: "Now it's going to be even harder to keep up with them."

* * *

><p>Surprisingly enough, the fish and her partner only kept as far ahead as they had before- in other words, it was only just as hard to keep up with them.<p>

"Showoffs," Rajamon grumbled. Egakumon cast him a glance as though to say look who's talking.

"Not far now~!" the female Betamon yelled from even further ahead.

"See? There it is!" the male amphibian digimon continued, pointing down. The kids and digimon looked- and almost unanimously gasped.

Below them, hidden in a bit of a crevice down in the dark water, was a structure made almost entirely of crystal, emitting a ethereal blue glow that paradoxically faint for how bright it glowed. While it was bright and vivid, the light did not seem to illuminate much of anything else around it. It was hidden, it seemed, down there; if the Betamon hadn't pointed it out, it was likely that they would have missed it entirely.

Tall spires stuck up, and the crystal flickered like it were lit from inside by a fire.

"Cool," Toby said in a low voice; Lammon nodded her assent.

"Well, it makes as much sense as anything," Julian remarked, fairly transparently trying not to sound too impressed (and failing).

The feeling only got stronger as the group drew closer; it was farther away than they had judged by its size. Indeed, the closer they drew, they realized that the crystal castle was far larger than they had initially judged.

"Crazy," Egakumon said, clearly impressed.

"So, how do we get in?" Lammon inquired of the Betamon, one of whom turned around.

"Simple, y'just go in," he said with a dismissive handwave, smiling.

They were a bit taken aback. "No security?" Iguamon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Didn't say that," the other Betamon replied nonchalantly. The kids and digimon looked at each other quizzically.

* * *

><p>They finally reached the entrance; there was only one entrance, the Betamon said. The crystal was impermiable, they said, and had been that way for thousands of years.<p>

"There are rumors that not even Huanglongmon himself could break it," the female Betamon had noted.

The kids and partner digimon (except, again, for Faris and Shayumon) stood on the ocean floor, and looked up. The surface was far, far above their heads; the only light was the vibrant glow of the crystalline base. Outside of its halo of light, it was all dark.

"Wicked," Faris remarked, hopping off of Shayumon's back and drifting down to the ground alongside the others.

"Follow us," the Betamon said in unison, before anyone could take too good a look.

They, as a group, proceeded to follow the little amphibians; Shayumon brought up the back, while the six children and five other digimon were something of an unruly mob. The Betamon led them to a tremendous door; as they stepped up, they swung open of their own accord with a mighty lurching noise.

They were not expecting what happened next.

The second they stepped through the threshhold of the door, they were breathing air once more. The heavy feeling of breathing water was gone, and they were dripping wet. They stumbled almost invariably, except for the Betamon; it was bizarre moving horozontally from deep water into air. Shayumon, particularly, fell forward with a flump.

"You know, I was just about to ask why we didn't just get the bends and die," Julian said after a second, "but I think I'm learning to just accept it."

"That's the spirit," Iguamon said with no small level of sarcasm in his voice.

Once they were inside, they took a moment to look around them. The walls, made of crystal, seemed to be filled with stars- or possibly some tiny bioluminescent creature, but the level of logic involved with the digital world left the kids not doubting that it could be the former. The floor was the same crystal they had seen, apparently carved into blocks and set in place; they glowed dimly. The ceiling was high, high overhead, with stalactites of the rock hanging down.

"Swanky," Simon remarked, looking around.

"Which way do we go, then?" Egakumon asked, turning to look at the Betamon- but they weren't paying attention. They were staring out through the still-opened doors, reared up as though waiting for something- but what? Shayumon, who had not moved from where she flopped, was the first to look, and her eyes narrowed.

On cue, the kids' D-GEAR units lit up again.

"I am seriously starting to think that the universe hates us," Faris said; to his surprise, the other kids unanimously nodded and murmured their assent.

There was a deep rumbling and a great cloud of dust and material, as though something were hitting the ocean floor. Fitting- that was in fact the case.

Landing on the ocean floor was a monsterous giant squid. It was humongous, with metal pipe-like structures on either side of its face, with a huge grey marking on what would be its face. Its mouth (and that seemed to be the only facial feature it had) was open wide, and lined with teeth. Tentacles tipped in black claws seemed to serve as hands.

_Gesomon. Adult-level mollusk digimon. The White Demon of the Depths, it does not harm digimon until they enter its territory. When they do, it strikes like a raging god. It attacks with its arms with its Coral Crusher, or its blinding ink with its Deadly Shade attack._

"No need to panic," the female Betamon said, standing her ground even as the writing squid rose from the ground and looked none too happy, "but I think you may have gone into its space when you were, uh, hiding."

"Fantastic," Rajamon drawled, growling and rearing down. Gesomon spoke in a booming voice, sounding like he was speaking half of his words around a mouthful of saliva as he drew closer to the door, still outside.

"Enemies of Era intruded on my territory," he snarled, his many tentacles writhing about in the most disconcering way. That said, he didn't waste any time. "Coral Crusher!" he roared, smashing one tectacle through the water and into the castle- and crushed one of the Betamon.

He lifted his tentacle, and all that remained was a blur of data and a dark-green egg with blue stripes.

The male betamon let out a strangled cry, and seemed to freeze to the spot.

Emily and Toby both gasped; Andrea furrowed her brow, Julian's eye twitched a little bit. Faris stared, and Simon... well...

The be-goggled boy picked his D-GEAR off his belt as it began to glow. "I think now's as a good time as any."

Almost like a domino effect, so followed the other digivices.

"Egakumon kickstart digivolve to... Shokunimon!"

"Rajamon kickstart digivolve to... Baghamon!"

"Iguamon kickstart digivolve to... Velocimon!"

"Lammon kickstart digivolve to... Ariamon!"

"Kamomon kickstart digivolve to... Kaizokumon!"

Instantly, the now entirely-digivolve team rushed forward to join Shayumon, forming a barrier between the (frozen with shock) Betamon, the egg, and Gesomon.

"Hey, checkit," Shokunimon chuckled. "Full team. **Tumble Kick**!" Without a second of wait, he lunged and somersaulted at the still-extended tentacle, smashing his foot into it. As he did so, Kaizokumon lunged in as quickly as he could. With one hand, he grabbed a hold of both the egg and the remaining Betamon, holding either under each arm. He ducked backwards, placing his two loads behind the kids, before leaping back towards the group.

Velocimon motioned to Shayumon, who quickly dragged herself back into the water, darting around behind Gesomon; while she did, as a distraction, Velocimon himself ran forward, straight into the water.

"**Fast Strike**!" the dinosaur yelled, propelling himself straight at the squid as he ducked back into the water, and ran into his target. As he did, Shayumon picked up as Gesomon flew backwards at him.

"**Tail Saw**!" Once again, she swung her tail like a blade; like a ping-pong ball, Gesomon was thrown forward, and fell forward into the castle itself, with Velocimon dodging out of the way and back inside, for his own part, just in time. Shayumon followed, and as she did, the doors began to creak shut.

Gesomon didn't take it lying down, however. "**Deadly Shade**!" Gesomon bellowed, releasing a blast of black ink from his mouth. It struck true, straight into Shokumion, Kaizokumon, and Velocimon; it covered their faces, and the three affected stumbled backwards, unable to see.

Baghamon and Ariamon took it upon themselves to take it up from here; Ariamon was first to bat. She ran up dangerously close to the squid, waving her cloudy body. "**Smokescreen**!" she called, releasing a thick cloud of dark smoke, before she leapt away gracefully. Despite the fact that Gesomon had no eyes to obscure, the smoke itself seemed to settle on his body and inflict damage as though it were a skin irritant.

"**Tiger Gem**!"

Not eager to run headlong into the smoke, Baghamon gathered light in the gem on his necklace; a second or two later, he leapt up closer and fired it straight through the cloud, a crackling beam of light that hit Gesomon straight in the center of the mark on its head.

The smoke began to clear. Much like the Betamon before, Gesomon's giant body was encircled by data; it began to fade, shot off into oblivion, and left only a white and grey egg in its wake.

Breathing heavily - they were tired, after all, not just from the fight but from the journey - the digimon looked at eachother.

Almost simultaneously, they grinned as they were encased in white light, which soon faded to leave only their child forms.

"That was so cool!" Toby exclaimed; Simon gave a cheer, Andrea pumped her fist victoriously. Faris whooped and hollared, and Emily was hopping up and down. Why, even Julian seemed to have yelled an 'awesome!', but he would inevitably deny it later.

"How on earth do you guys do that?" Emily asked, kneeling down to be on-level with Kamomon.

"Years of being stuck around eachother," the seagull reasoned, stretching out. "We know how the others tick, so to say!"

"It has its benefits," Iguamon said with a nod, looking between Julian and Faris quite pointedly. His partner gave him an inscrutiable look, but smiled a little bit despite himself.

It was only now that they looked back at Betamon; he was looking at the egg sadly, then looked to the children.

"She was my sister," he said, poking at the egg with his snout. "... thank you for retrieving it from being smashed."

"It's what we do," Lammon said with a bit of a smile. "And the least we could do to repay your help."

"Don't worry, yeom," Delfinimon said with uncharacteristic softness, no kidding in her voice, hopping up alongside the amphibian. "She'll be hatched again soon, yeah?" Betamon smiled a bit and nodded.

"I'm afraid that I don't know the rest of the way," Betamon admitted after a second. "I've never been very much past this chamber. I mean, there are little... lodging rooms, but..."

"It's more than we would have found on our own," Toby said, smiling a bit. The amphibian nodded once, and carefully began nudging the egg off towards one of the lodging rooms.

The kids and digimon looked forward; there was one great hallway stretching ahead, at the (very far away) far end of the room. Despite the grand size (and, admittedly, quite a nice look to it), the room was mostly empty.

As an unruly mob, the group moved forward.


	8. Chapter 8: Forbidden Wisdom

_"Where did they go?"_

_"I don't know."_

_"Yes, you do. I know you saw them come through. You're a terrible liar."_

_"Even if I knew, I wouldn't-"_

_"You really ought to come with more original lines. I'm almost insulted that you think I haven't heard this a hundred times."_

_"You're not going to w-"_

_"Let me guess, 'win'? They're going to defeat me, and Lord Era, and so on? I doubt it. Really, are you just taking your lines from the Nameless Foot Soldier's Guide to Resistance?"_

_"Ghk-!"_

_"Hmn. ... Reimon, take care of the digitama, will you? Send it back to Lord Era. No use in letting it go to waste."_

* * *

><p>The kids and digimon pressed on into Wisemon's castle; even though it was straightforward (as best they could tell), it was still disconcerting at best. The crystalline surfaces played tricks with the light and made their vision start to blur and their eyes to ache.<p>

What is there to be said about it? Though they occasionally ran into walls or took the wrong way in a fork, leading to an immediate dead end, there seemed to be little to the palace- except for its incredible size. Even the smallest hallways were vast in all directions, a several-minute jog from one door to the next.

Delfinimon was just beginning to complain of the length when they beheld before them a tremendous door, even larger than the one that had served as the entrance to the castle itself. What stood out the most, however, was not the door itself- but rather, that the wall and the door that was ahead of them changed from the shimmering blue crystal to what almost looked like obisidian. (Surely, it was more resilient than glass, but the resemblance was striking). It still seemed to emit a curious glow, but the light looked almost like the visible light emitted from a blacklight, if the purplish tone thereof were a good ten shades darker.

"I, uh, think we found it, guys," Simon said as he looked up at the almost-inconceivably huge doors.

"He's a bit fond of theatrics, inne?" Andrea commented, putting her hands on her hips, putting most of her weight on one leg, so as to jut one hip out.

Rajamon smirked. "Just be glad he didn't give Deekamon any interior design tips." The others gave a series of thin smiles at that, but turned their attention quickly.

With a deep breath, they stepped forward. With a lurch, the big black doors began to grind open, forward.

It was a slow and gradual thing. It took perhaps thirty seconds before they had opened wide enough to let the kids and their partners through, even in single file, without uncomfortable squeezing themselves through. They went in, one at a time, each human followed directly by their digimon. Simon first, followed by Andrea; Emily was right behind, with Toby after. Faris trailed Toby, and Julian (well, Iguamon, actually) brought up the back.

As soon as Iguamon's tail dragged into the room, the door smashed shut with startling speed, and the room was completely dark.

"What's going on?" Toby cried out, jumping no small bit. This statement led the other humans to make similar exclamations. The digimon, too, seemed less than confident; they tensed, prepared to attack if anything happened. It could well have been a trap, they realized; Era could have taken over, and-

"There is no need to be afraid," a new voice said, echoing. It was hard to place, sounding distant and close, a number of different tones of voice at once.

Strangely enough, they didn't seem to relax much at all.

From dead ahead, glow much like from that outside began to pulse. It was like a single lantern- that grew brighter by the second. It was shining like a star, beore one more appeared to either side of it. They, in turn, lit up more crystals beside them, like dominos falling to turn on the lights, until the room- much smaller than any of the rooms before it, which explained why the doors opened outwards - was lit up by a circle of brightly-shining rocks.

In fact...

"Whoa," Faris said under his breath. There were crystalline structures all around- some were blank pedestals, some were massive, formless crystals. That wasn't what caught the attention of the guests.

"Toby, look!"

"That's nuts!"

"Hooooly..."

Positioned at regular intervals around the room were seven carved figures. The figures in rock were familiar- they were glowing carved renditions of the digimon. Clockwise from the door was a sequence; carved likenesses of Lammon, Delfinimon, and Rajamon were placed along the curved wall to the left. At the far end of the room, a figure of Egakumon shone; the right wall, in its turn, was lined with statues of Kamomon, Iguamon, and... what appeared to be a snake. The snake was curled around itself, with a feather-like tuft on the end of its tail. A jewel was inset on its forehead, with a number of plumes springing therefrom.

Each had a symbol engraved into the pedestal on which it stood; were the kids to take the Virtues out of their D-GEAR units, they'd notice a striking resemblance to the one on their respective partner's statue.

"Is that the seventh?" Simon asked, looking at Egakumon as he pointed at the statue of the snake.

The rabbit nodded. "If Deekamon's little... light-thing reached her," Egakumon said. "Then yeah. That's her. If not, then..." he trailed off.

The kids were so distracted that they initially failed to notice the sudden phasing into existance of a digimon in the center of the room.

First to appear was a tremendous book, which fell open. From pages inscribed with red, unreadable text, a form appeared. It was tall, and human-like; it was covered almost entirely in a burgundy-red robe, with dark-skinned hands and boot-like feet. A cream-coloured hood and expanse of extra fabric draped around its shoulders, and two yellow eyes were the only features visible on an otherwise-shadowed face. Above its outstretched hands, there floated a red orb in its right, and a yellow in its left.

"Wisemon!" Egakumon exclaimed, clenching his paintbrush tight before he suddenly bowed deeply. The other digimon followed suit; even Rajamon sunk to the knees of his forelegs, and Delfinimon bowed her head. It took a moment, but the humans followed suit and bowed.

"There is no need," the strange voice echoed again, and the digimon in the center of the room bowed his head.

"You are... Wisemon?" Julian asked in an even tone; the mysterious digimon stood completely still for a moment, and then, slowly, nodded only once.

"And you are the Virtue Holders," Wisemon said as he lifted his head again and looking specifically at the children.

"Yep. Or at least, that's what people keep calling us," Faris spoke up, smiling.

Wisemon's eyes seemed to squint as though he were smiling. "Then you," and he looked this time speciically at the digimon, "are the Virtue Recievers. ... six of them, at least. I assume you have no idea where the seventh is?"

The kids and digimon alike shook their heads. "No, sir," Kamomon said, bowing again. "And we've not seen neither hide nor hair of Plu-" the seagull paused, and corrected himself, looking over at the statue of the snake. "Sampamon, since she disappeared." Wisemon nodded again, but said nothing.

"Deekamon told us that you could explain things more," Rajamon said carefully, tilting his head.

"And we've got a heck of a lot more questions than we had when we started," Andrea said, rubbing the back of her head.

Wisemon looked over the children and their partners, and nodded his head. He motioned beyond the statue of Egakumon with one hand, where a much smaller door - one that, perhaps, an actual human would use - seemed to suddenly appear. "Follow me," he said, and he (book and all) began to drift towards it. He paused, and beckoned for them to follow before he floated off and into said room.

"This is safe, then?" Emily asked of nobody in particular, looking around.

"As anything," said Kamomon, with a shrug of his shoulders.

* * *

><p>They followed Wisemon into the second room; it was just about the size of the last. The floor was still made solidly of the rock, but the walls were lined with shelves packed to the brim with books, and where they weren't, they had pieces of parchment with scrawled writing and sketches as a makeshift wallpaper. Opened tomes and scraps of paper were strewn across the floor. There was even a small bookcase, off in the corner, with a handful of digitama in leiu of books on its shelves.<p>

"Mind the mess, as they say," Wisemon said, waving his hand. "I do not have time to clean it."

"Looks like home," Simon remarked with a smirk. "Just needs a few more dirty clothes strewn around!" Andrea gave him a disapproving look.

"Take a seat," Wisemon said; carefully, so as not to disturb anything, the digimon sat down on the floor and the kids, most sitting tailor-style, followed suit.

As they did, the robed digimon nodded solemnly. "Thank you. Now, I understand you were sent here for knowledge?"

"Something like that," Faris said with a shrug; Wisemon nodded again.

"This may take a while," Wisemon said, "try not to interrupt." He breathed deeply and began.

"One hundred years ago, the digital world was invaded by an intruder. He hailed from a unique universe. One the likes of which not even Yggdrasil and the Sovereigns can know. I cannot claim to explain it. That universe was... eversed by something. Turned inside-out, and one thing was expelled. It is my belief that the other universe explicitly decided to discard it - to prevent it from causing damage to theirs - but it got sent to us, here. That bit of debris was Era.

"I do not know what universe it was that Era was sent from. His power is unknowable. Rumors range from his being able to warp reality to simply being able to corrupt a digimon's data. I do not know what the truth is. All I know is that he has turned much of the digital world against itself. He has taken over areas, created cities, turned digimon to his side. That is what worries me- he turns digimon to his side of their own volition.

"So many of my allies have turned to Era's side over that hundred years. I have seen strong and wise digimon turn to his side, begin to fight for him. So few of us still hold out. There are many of us, don't get me wrong... but we are outnumbered, three to one. You," and Wisemon pointed to the six digimon and six children, "are Yggdrasil's last line of defense against Era. Virtue Warriors- the partnership of a Virtue Holder and a Reciever.

"You have been chosen to help us figh. I do not know what the Sovereigns based their choices on, but there is something... special." Wisemon paused, here, and pointed to each of the children in turn. "Honor." Simon. "Bravery." Andrea. "Adaptability." Julian. "Humor." Faris. "Dedication." Emily. "And Trust." Toby. "Those are your virtues."

"So, why do we have to-" Andrea began, but Wisemon held up a hand.

"A digimon cannot activate them," he said, as though he knew what she was going to say. "Yggdrasil is the only thing that can bring things between universes, with the rare exception of Era himself. If a digimon could utilize a Virtue alone, then it could very well fall into the wrong hands."

Wisemon took a deep breath. "And then there are the digimon," he continued, and looked now at them. "You were not born by accident or chance. Only very rarely does Yggdrasil decide to create new digitama. Did Deekamon ever explain this to you?" The digimon looked at eachother, and shrugged.

"Not really," Lammon admitted.

"Understandable... he wouldn't want to push it upon you yet," Wisemon said, nodding. "Then listen to me now. You were created when the children were chosen. Seven digitama were created five of our years ago- mere months to you, children. You, Virtue Recievers, are unique. You are the only digimon in this world that can evolve with the Virtues- you, specifically. Another of any of your species may exist, but only you six and your missing comrade can use the Virtues. You are chosen by Yggdrasil.

"Both parts of this partnership are irreplacable. Digimon, your partners need you to protect them. Humans, your partners need you to grow stronger to fight Era. You need eachother to stand a chance against Era."

Wisemon took a deep breath and bowed his head. "Both of our worlds depend on your success."

"Wait, wait wait. How?" Julian said suddenly.

Iguamon nodded. "This threatens the Digital World, but I don't see why it threatens theirs."

Wisemon looked at the dinosaur, and sighed deeply. "What Era is planning to do... is to reach Yggdrasil and overtake the Sovereigns. If he reaches Yggdrasil, Era could enter any world he wishes to enter... and I am of the belief that he wants to enter yours."

The kids were struck speechless.

"He will mobilize the digimon into your world to take it over. Imagine what would happen, then. Imagine what would have happened if you didn't have your partners when you first arrived, and then imagine the most powerful digimon in the world attacking yours. I do not know what he wants with it, but..."

The room fell silent. The silence was deafening, punctuated only by the breath of the occupants of the room.

Toby spoke first, the quiet growing uncomfortable quickly. "So what do we even... do?"

"Yeah," Emily said, blinking. "We can't just... I dunno, run out and go fighting. We don't know where this Era dude is."

Simon took up, next, adjusting his goggles. "Seriously. I mean... do we just start walking and hope we picked the right direction?"

"Open your D-GEAR units' maps, please," Wisemon said evenly, probably having expected this very line of questions. Dilligently, the kids did as they were told, six little holographic spherical maps shining over the devices. Once they were there, he nodded and continued. "You see where you are now, in the Great Ocean.

Indeed, the little blinking points indicated their current location.

"Era may be powerful, but he still exists in space," Wisemon said. "He is far away, but far away, in the Barren Lands..." he lifted a hand, and all as one, the kids' D-GEAR unit maps all suddenly swivelled to show... what was essentially as far away from their current position as it was possible to get. "There is where you'll find him. It will not be easy, by any stretch of the imagination."

"Great name for a place, yeom," Delfinimon groaned, shaking her head.

Sagemon seemed to smile, a bit sarcastically, and nodded. "He chose a place that is well-protected, and surrounds himself with powerful digimon... You will need the seventh child to stand a chance. If even one part of the equation is missing, it falls apart. Your mission is to find him and his partner, first."

Egakumon raised a hand, frowning. When the robed digimon turned to look at him, he spoke: "How are you so sure this kid's in the Digital World at all?"

Wisemon chuckled. "Deekamon gave you a light when you fought your first battle with your partners, yes?" The digimon nodded.

"And he threw one more out into the sky," Kamomon pointed out.

"Those are what allow you to use the virtues. They were... a backup. They are unique, and if you had not survived until your partners had arrived..." Sagemon trailed off; the digimon were clearly uncomfortable. "They only activated when the children entered the digital world. If it flew to Sampamon, she and her partner arrived. If they were defeated, we would know. Era would be celebrating."

The digimon and the humans all sighed, and nodded.

"Is there anything else I can explain?" Wisemon inquired.

"I think we're as good as we're going to get," Andrea replied, looking around as she clipped her D-GEAR back into place. The others nodded and did the same.

Wisemon bowed his head. "Shall I help you out, then? You'd best begin this search as soon as you can... I advise returning to the coast, and following any leads you can find from there."

Despite that vague advice, the group at large smiled and thanked Wisemon. The book-riding digimon led them out of the room, back across the room with the statues, and out the grand black doors. They followed him, taking the time to look at the decor around them. As he proceeded down the long hallways, they followed, a mixture of dread and excitement building up inside of them.

Out they went, working their way back out through the crystalline halls. Closer and closer they drew to the entrance hall, until they finally poured forth into it, Wisemon hanging back.

Their D-GEAR units began to glow. They snapped their attention to dead ahead, and the cause of the glow was apparent.

In front of them, there was a digimon. It looked nothing like any other digimon they had seen thus far. Clearly male, he was humanoid in form, standing well over seven feet tall; his humanity was stripped away by a sort of pale purple skin. A long tail and long, pointed ears only helped to reduce his humanity. A dark blue-grey mask with horn- and spike-like protrusions and lighter grey accents covered the top half of his face, with only yellow eyes visible under it. Most striking, however, was that his right arm was robotic below the elbow; his left, meanwhile, below the elbow, was large, and monstrous, and vivid red, with a yellow eye insignia on the back.

He wore a tattered black shirt, with a belt strapped around at an angle akin to Egakumon's, and dark grey-blue pants. There was a spiked pad on his right shoulder; there were belts, straps, and bandages wrapped around various parts of his body, and tall boots to complete the look.

Sitting on his shoulder, perhaps the size of his monstrous hand, was another digimon- this one looked much like the digimon their partners had been when they first met, little more than a head. Huge yellow eyes, little horn-like ears, four stubbly legs. A yellow marking above each eye, and a tail that reminded one of the stereotypical "devil" tail, thin and ended in a pointed spade.

_Forbidramon. Perfect-level Demon Man digimon. Data not found._

_Reimon. Baby II-level Lesser digimon. Data not found._

"Oh, that's a wonderful sign," Faris remarked. Beore he had even finished speaking, the tall digimon - Forbidramon - took a step forward, smiling.

"Hello," he said in a smooth voice, spreading his mismatched arms wide, as though welcoming them. His tail thrashed back and forth.

"Be on guard," Rajamon growled, as though the other digimon needed the command; each one was tensed and prepared to fight.

"Oh, come on now, I haven't even attacked you yet," Forbidramon said, and then clasped his hands over his chest. "Why, I'm hurt."

"I have the feeling we're gonna hate this guy," Andrea said, narrowing her eyes, Rajamon rearing down.

"C'mon, now," Forbidramon said, standing in place. "I'll even give you a chance. Digivolve."

They took that chance, almost immediately. Instantly, the six digimon were bathed in light.

"Egakumon kickstart digivolve to Shokunimon!"

"Rajamon kickstart digivolve to Baghamon!"

"Iguamon kickstart digivolve to Velocimon!"

"Delfinimon kickstart digivolve to Shayumon!"

"Kamomon kickstart digivolve to Kaizokumon!"

"Lammon kickstart digivolve to Ariamon!"

The strange digimon began to clap slowly, smirking. "Very nice," he drawled, seeming to look not at them but through them. "Adult form, yes? Impressive. You've only been with your Virtue Holders for, what, two days? Three?"

"Three," Baghamon snarled, seeming to be waiting for the chance to strike.

"Reimon," Forbidramon said suddenly, turning to the digimon on his shoulder, as though struck by an idea. "Do six Adults stand a chance against one Perfect?"

"No," it said, quietly but simply.

"I didn't think so!"

Forbidramon suddenly rushed at the group... or so it seemed. As he drew closer to them (particularly, Kaizokumon), he suddenly bounded off the ground and vaulted over their heads and into the hall they had just come out of.

"**Claw Crusher**!" the new enemy yelled, reaching his red hand out at Wisemon. Before the book-owning digimon could move out of the way, he found himself gripped right around where his neck could be presumed to be. The red hand of Forbidramon began to glow, and...

"**Tumble Kick**!" Shokunimon yelled, having whipped around, rushed, and was now smashing one glowing foot into one of Forbidramon's legs.

Forbidramon did not seem hurt, but did indeed stumble, down to one knee- and lost his grip on Wisemon. Wisemon nodded, and then one of the orbs in his hands began to glow- and like that, he vanished with a little vwip noise, book and all.

"Oh, come on," Forbidramon said in a sickly-sweet tone, smiling. That alone unnerved the rabbit, and he leapt back towards the group.

The newcomer stood up, as though the entire thing had been an act. "I think you need an education in what we call 'evolution levels'." At this, he held up his robotic arm. "**Dark Wave**!"

The digimon had only a second to leap in front of their human partners before it hit; a blast, a concentrated wave, of what looked like solidified darkness, wispy and incorporeal... and enough to throw the adult-level digimon, guarding their human partners, backwards, quite instantly de-digivolving (thankfully, before they hit their partners).

"We're too tired," groaned Delfinimon. "We need to rest, and eat, and..."

"And he's a Perfect level," Iguamon interrupted, flinching as he tried to push himself up. Julian helped him to, as Forbidramon took a step forward.

"Really, there's not even any challenge in this. I could take your D-GEAR units now. Or just obliterate the lot of you. But honestly... you're not even a threat yet. No fun!" he pouted.

"And no Wisemon," Reimon said from its perch on Forbidramon's shoulder.

The tall digimon paused, and nodded. "And we didn't even accomplish what we came here for. I don't want to chase him across, eheh, 'space and time', or whatever crap he says it is, anyway."

He turned to the humans and their partners.

"I'll see you again. Try to be at least a little more amusing next time?"

And all of a sudden, he took off towards the doors like a shot, Reimon clinging effortlessly, even as he leapt into the water and swam out of sight in an instant.

"Crap, man, are you okay!" Simon said as soon as the enemy was out of sight, turning his attention to the rabbit. He was kneeling, with his digimon partner's head sitting on his lap.

"Dandy," Egakumon replied, but rubbed his head. "I feel like I got blindsided by a truck."

"You did well to protect Wisemon, though," Lammon pointed out, lying down on the ground and breathing heavily.

"Who knows what could have happened, otherwise," Kamomon said, his voice wavering a bit.

Just like that, Wisemon appeared again, with another vwip, and his eyes were stern. "Thank you," he said to Egakumon, first, though, bowing his head. "Are you all okay?"

"Fine," Iguamon muttered.

"Don't be stupid," Julian said to the dinosaur. "You guys look a mess."

It was no question about it- they had had an incredibly long day. The mess with the Ankylomon, the city, the journey down, and now... this.

"I don't think he was actually... giving up," Toby said, looking out at the door. The others looked at him, and he shrugged. "It felt like he was... I don't know, playing with us?"

That seemed to make sense- whether they wished it did or not.

"He was just coming to show us what he could do," Andrea muttered, eyes narrowed again.

Wisemon sighed, and turned back into the hall. "I fear that may be the case... but at any rate. Follow me. You need to rest."

Feeling like their bodies were made of lead, so followed the digimon and their human partners- even if the humans had to all but carry each of their digimon.


	9. Chapter 9: Wayside Heroes

The entire team ate like ravenous wolves the second they had food (which was, unsurprisingly, overwhelmingly fish) put in front of them. Neither humans nor digimon had eaten since their gorging on terrafruit the morning before, and after such an... ... intensive... past couple days, it was understandable. There was no time for conversation in between shoving food into their mouths. Wisemon was a bit taken aback, but seemed, at the very least, amused. They were seated on the floor, around a low table seemingly carved out of the crystal that everything else was.

"Are you better?" the robed digimon asked after the consumption of food began to slow.

"Quite," Egakumon said, stretching his arms out wide and patting his stomach. He had eaten far and away the most, with Simon at a close second. The others seemed prepared to comment... but there was a sudden beeping from each of the kids' D-GEAR units.

"Not _again_," Andrea groaned, until...

"Hey! This thing workin'?" Deekamon's voice crackled out of all six of the devices.

"Even worse," Rajamon said, with a bit of a smirk. Andrea smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Deekamon," Lammon was the first to say, as Toby pulled his D-GEAR out. The lamb put her nose up quite close to it.

"Great, so you haven't been killed! More than I was hoping for!" Deekamon replied cheerfully; the kids exchanged _horrified looks_, while the digimon seeemed adjusted to such things. "You guys are are with Wisemon?"

"Yes," Wisemon said before anyone else could, taking a little bow as though instinctively. He... _probably_ knew, of course, that Deekamon couldn't see him.

"Fantastic," Deekamon chirruped. "I hope you've been faring well..."

"That's one word for it," Rajamon said with a roll of his eyes, but Egakumon began to speak over him.

"We've all digivolved to adult!" the rabbit said excitedly, hopping up on Simon's back to talk over his shoulder at the device in the boy's hand.

"It's pretty sweet, yeom," Delfinimon chimed in, her big tail-fin almost _wagging_ as though she were a dog instead of a dolphin, but then she paused. "But it didn't quite..."

"We kind of ran into a problem," Faris picked up, chuckling nervously.

"_That's one word for it_," Andrea said, echoing her partner's words from a moment before.

"We got attacked," Julian said simply, folding his arms and looking off to the side.

"And it didn't go well," Toby added gently.

"Thoroughly creamed?" Deekamon said, almost disturbingly nonchalant. He didn't wait for a response, but he sighed. "I'm afraid that may be a regular thing. ... ... I mean, getting attacked, not having your rears handed to you!" he ammended quickly, chuckling nervously.

Simon raised an eyebrow, and looked at Egakumon, who sat next to him. "He's really bad at motivational speeches, isn't he?" the boy said, resting his head on one hand. Egakumon chuckled, a bit sheepishly, and nodded; Simon rolled his eyes with a smile.

"I simply wanted to, ahhh, check up on you!" Deekamon continued now. "You kind of got... cut off before I finished talking to you earlier, when you had reached Seaside City." The kids minds drifted back to the incidence- that was right, they had cut Deekamon off when Starmon approached, hadn't they...

"Sorry about that," Kamomon piped up.

"Ahhh, it's fine. I was just going to give you a bit of direction, but I take it you managed on your own," the be-hoodied monster's voice dismissed; they could almost imagine him waving a hand as though to clear the discussion out of the air. "Tell me more about the digimon that attacked you?"

The kids and digimon alike blanched a bit, and were glad that Deekamon couldn't see them. The digimon particularly looked at themselves- they felt far better, now, being fed, but they looked like they had taken quite the beating. Feathers and fur were in disarray; their bodies splotched with dirt and scrapes.

"We didn't stand a chance," Iguamon provided. "The D-GEAR units said he was a Perfect-level."

"Is that, uh, something important?" Toby was the first to ask, cutting into the conversation.

Deekamon paused, and then gave a little 'mmhm'. "It's the level above Adult."

"Wait, wait, wait, there's a level above-" Andrea began, but got cut off.

"Yes," Deekamon said shortly; the way he said it, they could almost see him nod. "Above Adult is Perfect, and above Perfect is Ultimate. ... I doubt you'll have to worry about the latter any time soon, though. Almost no digimon get that powerful."

Julian's brows furrowed. "So, then, he completely throttled us- these guys didn't stand a chance. What are we supposed to do?"

Deekamon's answer came with a sort of inflection as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Get stronger."

"Thanks for that," Andrea said with a little roll of her eyes. "And how do we do that?"

There was a pause.

"Excellent question!" Deekamon said, cheerfully. "I'll have to look into that. I'll get back to you!"  
>All of a sudden, there was a little click and a <em>vwip<em> noise. On the screens of the D-GEAR units, the words 'communication ended' flashed. There was a moment of stunned silence.

"That guy is _out of his mind_," Rajamon remarked flatly.

"No he's not!" Egakumon snapped back, narrowing his eyes a bit.

"Oh, don't delude yourself," the little tiger replied, flicking his tail dismissively.

Wisemon, sensing an impending disaster, suddenly cleared his throat- or seemed to, as his strange voice made it hard to tell. Either way, he made a noise that was clearly meant to interrupt.  
>"Before any of you try to kill one another," he said, with <em>endless<em> subtlety, "I suggest you rest."

The concept did seem appealing. The twelve stood up from their seats on the floor; some stretched, others simply stood without incident. Faris picked Delfinimon up with a bit of effort and a muttered "you need to not eat so much". Delfinimon simply grinned.

Wisemon motioned for them to follow, and follow they did- down a series of halls, until they reached a trio of doors at the end of a hall. They weren't even quite sure of where they were in relation to the outside, anymore, but they were pointedly not-caring.  
>They took a peek inside; the rooms were small; they were equipped with two beds big enough for one person, and a plush chair by each. The glow of the crystal was weaker than it otherwise was, but they were otherwise unremarkable.<p>

There was a bit of debate until it was solved as to who would go to each room; eventually, they sectioned off, two kids and their digimon to each of the three rooms. Faris and Julian, along with Delfinimon and Iguamon, took one room; Andrea, Rajamon, Emily, and Kamomon took the second; this, of course, left Simon, Toby, and their partners to the third. (It was a setup, of course, to minimize the risk of anyone injuring eachother in the night.)

* * *

><p>It was some time in the night when Toby stirred to wakefulness; he looked over to see Lammon dozing peacefully in one of the chairs, and Egakumon snoring (loudly) in the other chair, but Simon was sitting up, back to the wall and arms behind his head, looking somewhat disgruntled. He looked very much as though he were lost in thought- and not happy ones, at that.<p>

The shorter boy's eyebrows furrowed a little bit, but he didn't say anything. Simon didn't seem to notice him, and he quickly drifted back to sleep.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Wisemon showed them out and bid them luck. Once they were in the water, almost immediately, Delfinimon took the opportunity to digivolve to Shayumon; she and Faris took off ahead, as they had before, much to the exasperation of the group at large. They followed what they could only guess was roughly the direction from which they had come. Up and up through the dark water they went. The pressure began to ease as less water pressed down on top of them; it grew lighter.<br>With almost no incident at all the kids surfaced; the skyline of the city was visible. They were quite a ways down the beach from it, however; what lay straight ahead of them was a simple expanse of beach and dunes, leading into a greenish blob that was probably some sort of forested area.

"It's been too long since we've seen the sun," Lammon said serenely as the group tread water for a moment, savoring the feeling of no longer being so deep underwater. Lammon was was right- the last they had seen the sun, unobscured by clouds, was before they had entered the Proxy Cave. That had surely been no help to them; as such, they chose to bask for a moment, sopping-wet as they were. Not only that, but there was something about breathing the air above water, compared to in Wisemon's castle; it was fresher, for one. Felt _brighter_, almost.

It was perhaps fifteen seconds later when Toby, then, spoke up. "Can we get to the shore? I'd kind of rather enjoy this more on land."

"Huh?" Simon said, having been entirely distracted with laying his head back, with a goofy smile plastered across his features. "... oh, sure. Yeah, good idea."

The group picked up where they had left off swimming; a scant couple minutes later, they laid foot on the sand again. Indeed, the green blobby things they had seen was a thicket of trees; they were a mile or two down the shore from the city, and to the other direction was nothing they could see but an expanse of sand and water.  
>Shayumon reverted back down to Delfinimon once the water had gotten shallower. She hung back in the water for a second, while the others walked onto the beach; she popped out of the water with a splash, like a breeching whale, and landed on her back next to Faris. "Hi, yeom," she said in an incredibly tone of voice, holding her fins out wide and smiling.<p>

"Glad someone's enjoying this," Rajamon remarked; almost as one, he, Egakumon and Lammon shook themselves like dogs to get the water out of their fur. Kamomon shielded his face from the spray with one wing, before he began to preen his feathers. Iguamon, meanwhile, seemed content to soak in the sun rays.

"I kinda forget they're animals, sorta," Faris remarked, hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, but we're _way_ cooler," Egakumon said offhandedly, grinning as he leapt, suddenly, onto Simon's back.

"Oh, geeze, wet rabbit!" Simon groaned good-naturedly, bucking his shoulders back to dislodge the digimon. With a whumph, Egakumon fell backwards into the sand and began to laugh, waving his arms. Toby and Lammon shared a smile, while Delfinimon and Faris began to laugh along. Emily covered her mouth and began to giggle, while Kamomon stopped short of a laugh- but still covered his mouth as he smiled.

Andrea, meanwhile, interrupted. "Where do we go from here?" she asked, looking up and down the beach.

"Heads up," Faris said impassively in response. Andrea looked confused for a second, before she turned- and immediately ducked her head. Shooting like a feathery bullet out of the trees was what seemed to be a bird digimon... and with plumage of bright green, yellow, and red, it was hard to miss.  
>Andrea stood up straight and looked. It was about the size of Kamomon; along with its colourful plumage, it had a big black beak and black feet, with a number of feathery protrusions on its face. Unlike Kamomon, its arms looked like actual wings. Around its left ankle there was a silver ring, and big blue eyes looked curiously at the group.<p>

The humans tensed. They took cautious looks at their D-GEARs; they didn't light up, and they relaxed some.

"What was that?" Kamomon said, shaking a bit more water off of his body and stepping up, past the humans, closer to his fellow avian.

The green bird squawked and scrambled to his feet, and bowed to one knee as he swept one wing in front of himself, in an awkward bow.

"Uhhh," Emily said, blinking slowly. "... I don't think that's necessary?" Even as she said so, her partner shrugged and returned the gesture.

"Nothing wrong with good manners," the seagull said off-handedly as he stood back up- and the other bird was still deep in his bow.

"Yyyou okay there?" Faris said, poking his head a bit forward.

The bird, then, hopped up with a flutter of his wings, and landed on his feet. "Oh, yes," he said with a sort of waver in his voice, but a chipper look in his eye. "Thank you. I'm sorry for, err, almost hitting you," he said, looking up at Andrea.

"It's nothing," the girl said, waving her hand dismissively, though she sounded the slightest bit irate.

"Not to be rude," Rajamon began (he ignored it when Egakumon coughed pointedly), "but who are you?"

The green bird blinked a couple times, and then he did the same little hop he did a moment before. "Oh! Yes!" he said; he took another bow, then looked up. "My name is Loromon!"

"Kind of a featherbrain, ain't he, yeom?" Delfinimon remarked quietly.

"Too obvious a joke," Lammon replied, though she smiled despite herself.

Loromon didn't seem to have heard it; he smiled, and looked around at the gathered. "You are the Digidestined?" he asked, shuffling.

"If that's that the same thing as- what was it?" Julian said, rubbing the back of his head. "Virtue Holders? Then..."

"Yep!" Egakumon cut in, waving his hand as though to indicate the six kids. "They're them."

"Lot of terms for it," Julian remarked to nobody, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Excellent!" Loromon said, hopping about a foot into the air and flapping his wings to keep aloft, kicking up a cloud of sand. He quickly realized this, however, once the children and partner digimon began to cough and cover their eyes; he landed and looked sheepish. "S-sorry about that."

"Why do you ask, though?" Toby inquired, putting his hands behind his back.

"I had heard you've been near here," the parrot-like digimon began, spreading his wings out as though splaying his hands out. "But, um... well... I have a bit of a problem. I thought perhaps you could help me with it."

"Sure!" Simon said quickly; he didn't notice Andrea folding her arms.

"What is it?" Egakumon picked up.

Loromon looked up and down the beach, and shuffled a bit again. "Um... well, y'see, we're very visible out here." They looked around- it was true; on the otherwise featureless beach, they stuck out like sore thumbs- especially on such a clear day. They could almost see where they had entered the Area from here- almost. If you could follow me back into the trees..." the bird said, indicating the thicket with one wing. He hopped and began to walk for it, beckoning for the others to follow.

Follow they did. Andrea, Simon, and their respective partners were the last ones to leave- but Andrea held out a hand and stopped the younger boy. As she did, Rajamon stepped in Egakumon's path.

"What's the deal, yo?" Simon asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"I'm simply wondering why you decided you get to be the leader," Andrea replied, one eye closed and the other looking up and to the right instead of at Simon. She took her arm away and put it akimbo. "We have a mission to do, in case you've already forgotten. We can't go helping everyone that wants it. It might lead us into danger someday."

Simon was a bit taken aback, and he frowned. "Why do you always think everything's a trap?" he said. "Unless I heard wrong, you were the one who ran at that- Vegiemon, right? So where do you get off with-"

"That's different," Andrea cut him off, waving her hand, "and totally beside the point. You just _decided_ we're going to help. It may not be a problem now, but I don't want to be on a team with you if you're going to be doing that all the time."

"We can't just leave someone behind!" Egakumon piped up, waving his hand.

"For all we know," Rajamon said back, cooly, "he may not need us at all, just that it's convenient. I don't know about you but I don't feel like being everyone's little errand-mon."

There was a sort of bitter glare shared between both the humans and their respective partners. Simon broke it, turning to Egakumon. "C'mon, Egakumon," he said, taking off after the group.

About ten seconds later, Rajamon turned to Andrea. He silently tilted his head in the direction of the others; Andrea nodded her head 'yes' and, belatedly, they, too, followed.

* * *

><p>The thicket of trees was a fairly typical little place; the ground was still sandy, and broad-leaved trees created a canopy that made the light filter through as green. There was a makeshift path of sorts, about wide enough for a person and a digimon to walk side-by-side, but one got the impression that the path didn't really matter too terribly much. It was pleasantly cool, and the crash of the waves behind them was still plenty audible.<p>

"What took you?" Emily asked as Simon, followed directly after by Andrea, re-joined the group.

"Just got a bit distracted," the boy replied nonchalantly, smiling. He looked around; they were in a little area devoid of trees, just a circle perhaps ten feet in diameter. Loromon sat on a stump on one side. The digimon were seated on the ground; Julian was leaning against a tree, Emily was kneeling on the ground, Faris sat tailor-style next to Delfinimon, while Toby sat on a smaller stump. Simon took a seat on the ground, and Egakumon plopped down alongside. Rajamon settled on the ground, while Andrea remained in a standing position.

"So what's the story?" Lammon asked gently of the stump-seated bird.

Loromon nodded. "Well... you notice that we're not far from Seaside City," he said, indicating the direction that the city was in. "It's expanding, too. So Agents come out here all the time. There's one in particular, named Kokatorimon... she comes through here all the time." He looked down, now, and his eyelids drooped.  
>"Kokatorimon's turned all of the rest of of my family and most of my friends here... she turned them back into Digitama, and taken them back to Seaside."<p>

He looked up. "I know I can't stay here anymore... the city's moving outwards, and I don't want to side with Era!" he squawked, and despite the funny sound, the conviction in his voice was strong. "I'm not meant for cities," he said, going back to his normal volume. "I was just... wondering if you could at least help me get rid of Kokatorimon. Avenge them, y'know?"

Simon cast a sideways glance at Andrea as he stood up. He said, "'Course!" Loromon smiled, and Simon clenched his fist determinedly. "What does she look like?"

Simon got an answer pretty directly, as they heard the sound of what seemed to be tree trunks being plowed straight through.

They looked around quickly; ahead of them, further into the trees, they saw her. A tremendous bird-like digimon, looking almost like a chicken; a wide splay of red-tipped tailfeathers trailed behind, and a ridge of dark feathers on her head were the only coloured feathers on an otherwise all-white body. Its mouth was open; inside of its big beak were lines of teeth, and its peach-coloured feet were ended with large black claws.

"Does that answer your question?" Loromon asked, shaking visibly as he hopped up and began to flap his wings, taking perch in the nearest tree.

Their D-GEAR units began to glow, and it was confirmed.

_Kokatorimon. Adult-level giant bird digimon. With a sharp beak, large body, and strong legs, it is impressive... even without its ability to turn enemies to stone with its Stun Flame Shot._

"_Stone_?" Kamomon spluttered, frowning.

"Oh, it's on," Simon said, before taking off at a launch into the trees with Egakumon immediately behind (and Simon was soon surpassed by the rabbit). His D-GEAR, almost as soon as the light from the D-GEAR reading shut off, began to glow again.

"Egakumon, Kickstart digivolve to... Shokumimon!"

Simon and Shokunimon approached Kokatrimon from behind and to the left. It was razing its way a new path through the trees, head swivelling back and forth to look for digimon.  
>Shokunimon gave it one.<p>

"**Paint Blast**!" the rabbit yelled, leaping at Kokatorimon; a blast of paint shot from his brush, getting the giant chicken in the back of the head, before Shokunimon up and landed on the bird's back.

"Get off!" Kokatorimon squawked, flapping her wings to try and dislodge the bunny-rabbit.

"Sweet," Simon said, smiling.

"Don't be an idiot!" Andrea's voice said from behind him; Simon whipped around, and there she was, with Rajamon at her feet. "One wrong move and that thing is going to petrify your stupid rabbit!"

"He's not _stupid_!" Simon snapped back, in a bit louder voice than he meant to. It caught Kokatorimon's attention. The giant chicken turned to the boy and girl, not noticing the tiger. She grinned.

"Oh, it's you!" she said in a nasty tone, stepping closer and temporarily forgetting about the digimon on her back. Her eyes began to glow. "**Stun Flame**-!"

"**Fire Dash**!"

A little fiery cat ran head-first into Kokatorimon's legs, causing her to stumble and lose her focus. She snarled, and looked around for who had done it. Rajamon darted under her, between her legs. "**Prince Fire**!" he yelled, shooting a fireball out of his mouth and into Kokatorimon's tailfeathers.

"Yeack! Watch it!" Shokunimon yelped as the feathers behind him started to ignite; however, he paused, and got an idea. He quickly hopped up, and quickly did a somersault with his hands, so his feet would come closer to the chicken's head. "**Tumble Kick**!" he yelled, smashing one foot into the bird's skull.

Sadly, however, Shokunimon couldn't keep a grip on the bird after doing that; he quickly toppled down to earth with a whumph. Though dazed, Kokatorimon seemed not quite ready to go down just yet; she lifted one claw, and the rabbit rolled out of the way with a little 'eep!' at the last moment. When he was still on the ground, he heard from behind him:

"Rajamon Kickstart digivolve to... Baghamon!"

"Should I make some sort of quip about 'pick on someone your own size'?" the now-larger tiger snarled, rearing down. He leapt, then, at the chicken, smashing his shoulderblade into the bird's wing.

"Nah, I think I'd want one about fried chicken," Shokunimon drawled, pushing himself to his feet and tensing, bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready to leap in any direction.

Baghamon rolled his eyes, rearing his head back. "**Tiger Gem**!" he yelled, gathering and releasing light from the jewel on his necklace; the bird snarled.

"**Feather Sword**!" she yelled, bringing one wing down right near the big cat; the edges of her feathers glowed white, and it cut into Baghamon's side. The cat stumbled. "**Stun Flame Sh-**!"

For the second time, Kokatorimon's attack was cut short- this time by a splash of paint to the face.

"**Paint Blast**!" Shokunimon yelled, leaping up over Baghamon and blasting the paint straight in Kokatorimon's face before falling straight to the ground. The chicken wobbled, now, and then fell to the ground with a thud.

A flash of data later, and an egg was all that remained.

Breathing heavily, Shokunimon looked at Baghamon. The rabbit grinned; the tiger's expression was inscrutiable. With a bit of effort, Baghamon stood up and walked back towards the children, who had backed into the trees a bit; Shokunimon took hold of the digitama before he followed.

"This wouldn't have happened, you know, if that parrot didn't decide he needed vengeance," Andrea remarked, shaking her head. She placed a hand on Baghamon's forehead. He gave a deep noise that could possibly be taken as purring, and a soft white glow encased him as he de-digivolved back to Rajamon.

"So? Nobody got too hurt," Simon replied unusually coolly, before he gave a thumbs-up to the rabbit holding the egg.

"Thank you!" came Loromon's voice from behind and above; the two looked up. There was the little green bird, smiling wide. Simon didn't notice it, as he was fixated on the bird, but the corner of Andrea's mouth curled up just a little bit.

"What should we do with this?" Shokunimon asked, holding up the digitama.

"Oh!" Loromon said, and he hopped down to the ground. Almost on cue, the other members of the team arrived through the trees; they surely had seen most of the occurances, had certainly heard it. The parrot thought for a moment. "... I know of a couple digimon... if you leave it here, I can see if they can help."

Emily smiled. "Let me guess, they're a dog and a cat?"

Loromon was a bit taken aback. "Yes! How did you-"

"We've met them," Toby said, chuckling a little.

Loromon smiled, and nodded. "I will... see to that. I don't think I can stay here much longer, though..." the parrot said, looking up through the leaves to the sky. "I'll find somewhere new, I suppose."

Lammon nodded. "It's regretable... but I hope you have luck with that," the sheep said.

The parrot nodded in return. "... I cannot thank you enough," he said, looking around at the children and their partners. "Perhaps I can help you a bit. Is there anywhere you need to go? Perhaps I can help you."

The kids exchanged looks. Where _did_ they need to go? They needed to find the seventh child and his partner, but they had no clue of where to start. "I don't suppose you've seen any other humans - like us - recently?" Faris said, jokingly but hopeful. To nobody's surprise, Loromon shook his head.

"I haven't," he confirmed, but an idea struck him. "But I know where you could maybe find out!"

The kids and digimon alike blinked, and looked curiously at the parrot.

"There's a little village- it's not far!" he pointed off in what was presumably the direction of said village. "I could help you find the way!"

Well, it was better than nothing.

"That sounds great, Loromon," Emily chirruped, smiling. "Lead the way!"


	10. Chapter 10: Together in Harmony

Down the beach the group went, following the flying-above-and-ahead Loromon. Loromon himself was quite chatty, and Kamomon was entirely happy to fly up alongside his fellow avian and converse. Delfinimon had elected to follow along in the water; it was assuredly easier for her than walking. Faris decided he wanted to (quote) _get the water out of his socks before he puts more in_, but walked in and out of the surf and the wet sand. The rest kept to the group-huddle, for the most part, though they occasionally found themselves irritated by the difficulties of walking long distance in sand.

The group realized something as they followed the parrot: it was getting dark. Whether they had woken up late (a distinct possibility), or had taken a long time to reach the surface again (also possible), or a combination of both, before too long, the sun had started to sink towards the water to their left. The sky started to turn orange and pink, splattered with the beginnings of clouds.

They continued on, as the sky changed from pink and orange into violet and indigo, the sun sliding out of sight and the moon rising up over the dunes to the group's right. For a short time, the sky ran almost ran the gamut of colours from pinkish-red to violet, while the sung hung low and the moon began to rise. The word that came to mind would be _surreal _(and then _picturesque_). It looked more like a water-colour painting than any sort of reality.

"This place is _way_ too weird," Emily remarked off-handedly, looking around at the expansive sky above them.

"We've been running around for three days with a bunch of talking monsters, fighting giant ones, and breathing water... and _that_'s what you think is weird?" Andrea remarked, raising her eyebrow with a smirk.

"It's the little things," the first girl replied with a lilt in her voice, smiling brightly.

"How much further is it?" Rajamon inquired, looking up at the birds flying ahead.

"Not far at all," Loromon replied; as he had said that twice thus far, despite it not being too long a walk, some of the party were inclined to disbelieve him. However, they looked- he was pointing with one finger-like feather forward and just slightly to the right- there was a sort of faint glow, like a halo of light. "It's right there, in fact!"

They finished the last leg of the (thankfully, not too long) journey at a run. Perhaps it was eagerness to get off of their feet, or perhaps it was simply a profound desire to not be attacked again. Loromon himself actually landed and joined them at movement on foot, while Kamomon remained in flight (though he backed up to stay with the group).

The kids and digimon were barely within the halo of light, led by Simon and Egakumon, with Loromon directly beside, when they were stopped in their tracks.

"Halt!" barked a high-pitched, but surprisingly ccommanding voice.

Out of nowhere had popped a digimon. It was small, and pink, and barely more than a puffball with limbs. It had wings, like a dragonfly's, that kept it aloft- and holding the business end of a spear right in Simon's face. Its eyes were big and black, but its brows were furrowed and a little fang or two poked over its lip.

"Uhhh," Simon said, blinking and almost going cross-eyed to look at the pointy object in his face.

"What do you want?" the pink digimon demanded, hovering in place resolutely.

"Piximon!" Loromon cried out, doing his awkward little hop-skip and flapping his arms. "It's me! Loromon!"

The little pink digimon looked at the parrot, and his eyes narrowed further. "Why would you lead anyone here? We're in enough danger as it is since Era-"

"They're the Virtue Warriors!" Loromon squawked desperately, and the pink digimon looked at the kids and their partners again.

This entire exchange took place far too fast for the kids or partenr digimon to make much sense of it. There was a pointed silence as the little pink puffball scrutinized the group. He didn't walk, but instead flitted around, looking at everyone carefully- he even jabbed the blunt end of his spear, quite unceremoniously, into Iguamon's side, and then into Julian's rib. He flew right up and snatched Toby's D-GEAR unit, and pulled out the virtue. One eye closed, he inspected the shining talisman for a moment.

Looking grudgingly satisfied, the small digimon - Piximon, Loromon had said? - flew back over the group and landed next to the parrot. "Leading anyone here is dangerous," he said admonishingly, seeming like he would have shook his head if his entire body wasn't head. "We have trouble enough with Agents, without..." he gestured his spear in the kids' general direction, very nearly hitting Egakumon.

"Watch where you're pointing that!" the bunny yelped, doing a skip-jump backwards into Toby. He was soundly ignored.

"But," Piximon continued, sighing. "I suppose we should."

With that, he looked at the group again, and his expression was significantly softer. "My apologies," he said, but no more; he turned about, gestured for them to follow, and flitted towards the village.

"... what is it with weirdos and this place," Faris said after a beat of rest, shaking his head. "Every other digimon we meet is, like..." He paused, looking for the word.

"Loonie?" Delfinimon provided helpfully.

"I don't think you need to call him that," Lammon remarked quietly, shaking her head. "I'm sure he has his reasons."

Loromon chuckled slightly as he nodded, shrugging apologetically. "Piximon is... very protective of his village," he tried. "They get attacked by agents often, you see..."

"And he's afraid that our being here will just attract more. Or that they'll come after them if they harbor us," Julian provided, folding his arms (and covertly rubbing his side where he had been jabbed).

"Makes sense," Iguamon concurred, folding his arms as well.

Delfinimon shook her head, chuckling. "Still didn't need to be so rude, yeom."

Loromon shrugged again, smiling sheepishly. "Um. Shall we?" the bird asked, pointing. With a shuffle and a few mutterings, the group proceeded after the little pink flying puffball.

* * *

><p>It was far from impressive, they noted as they gingerly walked closer; their destination was, as Loromon had said, a small village. It consisted of perhaps fifteen or twenty huts, more or less the size of Deekamon's, placed in clusters. One got the distinct impression that the houses were built, and the dusty path leading between them like a spiderweb was an afterthought. The huts were built of reeds and straw and sticks, with thatched roofs; fire pits, surrounded by rocks, flickered here and there, between groups of houses. One larger fire crackled in a large clearing in the center of the village, and dark shapes - mostly small - sat around it, milling and socializing.<p>

It was hard not to feel awkward, as an unruly mob of six humans and foreign digimon, standing around just outside of the light and looking in. Piximon had made them stop there, and he flew up over the central fire.

"Attention!" the pink digimon yelled, holding up his spear; the chatter died down instantly. Some of the digimon around the fire had already noticed the odd arrivals waiting just outside of the light, but the majority were focused on Piximon. Once he was satisfied with the attention he had grabbed, he lowered his spear, and continued.

"We have some very important guests with us tonight." At the announcement, more and more digimon looked over to the group of children and digimon; but their attention snapped to piximon when he continued speaking. Admittedly, while his voice was high, even squeaky at times, he had a certain air of him that demanded respect. "If an Agent comes while they are here, we _will_ help protect them. If an Agent comes after they leave, we never saw them. Do I make myself clear?"

The gathered nodded, and Piximon smiled as he looked around. "Excellent," he said. He turned to the group and beckoned with his spear. All eyes turned to them as they moved forward, into clearer vision. They looked a mess, to be honest- they were dirty, still slightly soggy, and looked incredibly harried.

"Awkward," Emily said airily, chuckling nervously.

"I present," Piximon said, and despite his stature he managed to bow mid-air, "the Virtue Holders and Recievers."

"Uh, hi?" Simon tried, lifting one hand in a sort of half-hearted wave.

Almost immediately, the group was swarmed by digimon. They were poking at the kids and trying to get a look at the digimon from every angle, trying to look at the humans from every angle and poking at the digimon. Loromon shuffled back and took off into the air, perching on top of one of the huts, to avoid the clamor- after all, he wasn't a part of this.

"Are you really them?"

"So you're real, not Era spies?"

"Ohmigosh does that mean you can digivolve!"

"But why are you here of all places?"

"I thought it was just some sorta folk-tale..."

Soon, the swarm of digimon dragged the kids back to the fire, quite enthusiastically. They clamored and chattered; they asked questions non-stop, until Piximon held up his spear again.

"For the way you lot are acting, you'd think you just met a Sovereign," he chided, but was smiling wryly nonetheless. "You could try asking one at a time." He looked at the digimon, first, and then the humans, as he said, "if you're not above answering some questions for the villagers?"

"Of course not," Rajamon said back defensively, laying down closer to the fire than any other digimon did. "Shoot," he said, with a smile of his own.

A digimon that looked like a hawk, with a feather stuck in his black headband, spoke up first. "My name is Hawkmon," he introduced himself, with a sort of obligatory little bow. "... You're actually the Virtue Warriors, then?" he asked, sounding skeptical. "You should be able to digivolve on command, so do it."

It looked like Simon was prepared to speak up, but Julian cut in before he could. "No." Simon looked at the older boy, looking bewildered; his gaze was met. Julian looked at Hawkmon, and answered both Simon's unspoken 'why' and the bird's question. "It's not a parlor trick." Hawkmon huffed and folded his arms, but a sidelong look from another member of the village silenced him.

"Have you had any fights?" inquired a small digimon- a furry little limbless creature, one of the bouncing heads, with a black blade-like horn on its head. She paused, then added: "I'm Tsunomon, by the way."

"Numerous," Rajamon answered, nodding.

"How many?" Tsunomon asked, hopping up and down with excitement.

Egakumon paused to count it up on his claws; after a second, he answered her. "Almost ten, I think?"

"Nine," Lammon confirmed with a nod, and she took a deep breath. Then, she quickly counted off: "Grizzlymon, Gargoylemon, Vegiemon, Drimogemon, Ankylomon, Deputymon, Dolphmon for a little bit, Gesomon, and Kokatorimon." Several of the villager digimon seemed quite impressed- there weren't many, if any, adult-levels among them (the kids assumed), and the idea was almost staggering.

There was a milling and muttering; the digimon talked to eachother, and there was a lull in questions, until another digimon stood up.

He had been sitting next to Piximon, and that enough seemed to make the others fall silent as he did. He was small, and looked like a rabbit- or maybe a very long-eared dog. He was covered in brown fur, with pink accents; his ears were long enough to touch the ground, and his limbs were small. There were three small horns on the top of his head, and his eyes were black and shiny.

He took a bow, using one of his ears as a hand instead of his actual hands."Lopmon," he stated his name, then looked at the Digidestined and the digimon partnered with them. "How did you get here?" he asked in a soft, polite voice. "The humans, I mean. I know how the digimon did." He punctuated this with a wry little smile.

"Uh," Faris was the first to say, rubbing the back of his head. "... I don't really know," he admitted, and looked at the others. "I mean... I just got a text message, my phone started to glow, and..."

"And here we were," Julian finished flatly.

There was a pause. "Thank you," Lopmon said, bowed his head, and sat back down next to piximon.

Delfinimon looked up at Faris, and he at her; neither said a thing, but both seemed just a mite confused.

"Any other questions?" Kamomon asked quickly, to avoid another silence.

Another mumbling and muttering later; the digimon, while excited, there was a lull in questions. After a few seconds, though, and yet another digimon spoke up, this one another bouncing head- pale pink, with sharp teeth, red eyes, and long, antennae-esque appendages on its head (body?). "Um... my name's Koromon... but... what's the real world like?" he asked, and would have tilted his head if he could.

The partner digimon themselves looked at their human partners at this; they had never thought to ask, it seemed.

"Crowded," Faris said with a smile, but that quip began something else entirely. The kids traded off speaking, each giving their own piece of insight; they talked about all sorts of things. Food, pop culture, music (the digimon liked that, especially; Andrea produced an mp3 player out of her jacket, surprisingly unharmed by their ocean trip, and allowed Tsunomon to take a listen; apparently, the kids mused, song files weren't part of what got transfered to the digital world), technology, society, other people.

The digimon - both villagers and partners - listened raptly. Some asked questions; others merely sat back and let it sink in. This line of conversation went on for almost an hour; the fire started to burn lower.

* * *

><p>Eventually, the sun now fully down, Piximon arose again and shooed off the villagers to their huts. Only he and Lopmon, and the partners, remained.<p>

"Why do they go in so early?" Simon asked the pink digimon, toying with his goggles. "I mean... it's dark, but it's not that late, is it?"

Piximon looked at the boy, and flitted up to eye-level with him. "Night is when Agents come the most," he explained, putting his arms akimbo. "Anywhere that wants not to be destroyed does it."

"But what about-" Faris began, but stopped. He thought for a moment.

"You've never actually been out in the open night," Iguamon provided for his partner's brother, folding his arms and closing his eyes. "Deekamon told us that we should never be out of the hut after dark. That's when Agents patrol."

"Makes sense," Andrea said with a shrug of her shoulders, then looked at Piximon. "... so where do we go?"

Lopmon, instead, answered, instead of the pink digimon. "We have a couple of empty huts," he said, then sighed. "They belonged to members of ours who... are no longer part of our village."

"Were they defeated?" Toby inquired gently, frowning; he frowned more when Lopmon shook his head.

"Defected to Era."

There was another slightly awkward silence, but Piximon picked up here. "I don't think we'll be able to fit you all in them..." he cast a look towards what was presumably said huts.

"I'll stay up and keep watch for now," Julian said instantly, standing up. Iguamon did so as well, without a word.

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't just stay up all night," Faris said back, quickly. He gestured to himself and Delfinimon, who looked at Faris, and nodded. "We'll take over when you get tired."

"That works," Piximon said with a shrug. "Don't get killed," he said almost disturbingly non-chalantly. He paused, now, and looked over in the direction the kids had entered the circle from.

"Loromon, you're welcome to stay. Hawkmon will be sure to welcome you."

That's right- Loromon was still there. They had almost forgotten him. The parrot hopped down from his perch on top of one of the huts. "Thank you!" he chirrupped, and trotted off- into the hut he had been sitting on.

Piximon chuckled, before he gestured to Lopmon. The brown rabbit then nodded, and led the non-on-watch children and digimon to the couple of huts.

* * *

><p>Julian and Iguamon sat on the logs; Piximon had been kind enough to light a smaller fire for them again before he flitted off to inspect the huts of his vilagers, and the boy was gently poking at it with a stick as a make-shift fire poker.<p>

They sat in silence for over an hour with very few occurances. Eventually, Iguamon spoke up.

"Why did you volunteer, Julian?" the dinosaur asked, not looking at his partner but instead into the fire. There was no judgment in his voice; mere curiosity.

Julian, in contrast, looked at his partner. "I don't know," he said after a second, and shrugged. Iguamon looked at his partner, meeting his gaze. There were no words exchanged, but something unstated seemed to pass between the two.

Piximon, sitting quietly on top of a nearby hut - undetected by the children, leaned back where he sat and looked down at the two. He nodded.

It was later on in the night when Faris, holding a half-asleep Delfinimon in his arms, cautiously stepped out of the hut- sharing it with Simon, Egakumon, Toby, and Lammon, he had had to be careful to step over all of his roommates to not awaken them.

When boy and dolphin approached the fire, it had died down to embers. Iguamon seemed to have drifted off, and Julian - with his back to the huts - didn't notice. "Hey," Faris said quietly; Julian craned his neck to look, and nodded once.

"So y'haven't been eaten by monsters yet," Faris said as he took a seat and set his partner down. Julian nodded again; Faris sighed and breathed out heavily through his nose. There was a brief silence, before the boy with green bangs spoke up again.

"Look, Julian, I know you're still upset about-"

"I'm not," Julian cut his brother off instantaneously. He paused, and seemed to realize how acidic it had come out. "Sorry," he said in a mutter, and gently nudged Iguamon's shoulder. Julian stood up as the dinosaur shook his head and woke up, following suit in standing up. "Thanks for relieving me of guard duty, Fare."

Delfinimon looked between the two humans, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She yawned, and flopped her tail in the dust. "No probl-yeom," she murmured sleepily.

Julian and Iguamon were just walking away, and Faris and Delfinimon just getting comfortable, when the inevitable happened. The boys' D-GEAR units started to glow, and Faris sprung up.

"Crap," Julian hissed, looking around quickly.

The newcomers were actually hard to see at first- they were human-sized, walking up from the beach. Both wore pointed wizard-hats, one blue and one red; the one in blue, wore a yellow and red jumpsuit of sorts, covered in zippers; his cloak, also blue in colour, covered the lower half of his face. Brown boots and gloves left almost no skin showing, and one hand held a short, golden staff.

The other, the one in red, apparently female, wore a full red robe or dress,with a black cloak over. Whether it was because of her gloves or natural causes, her hands were large and clawed; she carried in one hand a broom. A little black cat, made of smoke, pranced around her head.

The D-GEARs began their usual diatribe.

_Wizardmon. Adult-level demon man digimon. Said to hail from another dimension, it has mastered the elements of fire and earth through advanced magic. Its Electro Squall attack summons lightning, but its Magical Game attack is completely unpredictable._

_Witchmon. Adult-level demon man digimon. It followed Wizardmon, said to be its rival, from the alternate dimension in order to train against it. It hates to follow rules, and can be cruel. It's Baluluna Gale attacks with sharp wind, and its Aquary Pressure attack can pierce even steel._

"Well, at least you weren't alone?" Faris tried with a little smile as the digimon drew closer, both humans taking a step closer to the oncoming digimon. Julian nodded once; Iguamon, shaking his head to wake up further, readied himself. Delfinimon was lethargic, but dragged herself alongside.

It didn't take long before the two hostile digimon came close.

"Good evening!" the Witchmon said, spreading her arms wide with a deceptive smile. She got no response, and she put one hand on her hip, and as she jerked her other hand's thumb at the boys, she turned to Wizardmon. "D'ya think they're deaf or something?"

"Rude, definitely," Wizardmon replied airily, gesturing aimlessly with his staff.

"Now," Iguamon muttered; as though at his command, the two boys' D-GEAR units kicked up again. Delfinimon nodded.

"Iguamon, kickstart digivolve to... Velocimon!"

"Delfinimon, kickstart digivolve to... Shayumon!"

"Oh, look! They can hear!" Witchmon said with a truly nasty tone in her voice, smirking. "Then let's get on with it."

"Let's," Wizardmon said, nodding once at her. He turned, and spoke seemingly to the digimon and humans as much as Witchmon: "You ready?"

Pandemonium broke out immediately.

"**Electro Squall**!" Wizardmon called, extending his staff-holding arm; a crackling mass of electricity shot out of the head of the staff, and crackled its way into Shayumon's chest.

The shark digimon roared, growling; before she could act, though, Velocimon quite literally rushed in. "**Fast Strike**!" With a growl, the dinosaur rushed between the two humanesque digimon, though the two leaped out of the way quickly, and he remarkably failed to strike either.

"**Aquary Pressure**!" Witchmon yelled, blasting from her hands a powerful jet of water at Velocimon as he rushed past them. With a grunt and a growl, Velocimon went tumbling head over heels into the dirt.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Wizardmon said tauntingly, waving his staff. "C'mon, at least put up a-"

"**Wavebreak Crash**!" Shayumon bellowed; with a rush of water, she rushed headlong at Wizardmon, cutting him off mid-sentence with a 'whoof'.

Quickly, though, Witchmon struck back; "**Baluluna Gale**!" she yelled, slashing her hands through the air and firing a gust of blade-like wind at the fish. She, too, tumbled headlong into the dirt.

"Get up!" Faris yelled, almost as a reflex; he almost ran towards the shark, when suddenly, something else entered.

"**Bit Bomb**!" yelled the high squeaky voice of Piximon; a pink blur flew past the boys' heads, sending a glowing, pulsing ball of energy into the fray. It smashed straight into Witchmon- and almost instantly, the red-robed digimon exploded into a flurry of data, leaving an egg behind her.

"How-" Julian muttered, raising his eyebrow at the little pink digimon.

"Size doesn't mean anything," Piximon answered immediately, gripping his spear tightly. "I'm a Perfect level," he explained just as quickly, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Below the kids' field of view, a little brown blur rushed in and snatched the egg left behind; Lopmon, grabbing the egg with both hands and ears, snatched it and backed away quickly.

Or, he would have, if Wizardmon wasn't at all perturbed by the defeat of his partner. "**Magical Game**!" he bellowed, waving his staff. A burst of glowing energy shot from his staff, shooting at Lopmon. Almost instantly, Piximon shot into its path.

The pink little digimon gave a yell, and... froze.

"... unpredictable," Julian muttered, echoing the words of the D-GEAR's reading; shaking his head. "Would have made it too easy," he groaned, looking at Velocimon. "Velocimon!" he barked suddely, and the dinosaur pushed himself to his feet. Again, something unstated passed between them, even at a distance.

Suddenly, the dinosaur rushed straight at Wizardmon again. Wizardmon growled and lunged after Velocimon, yelling repeatedly. "**Electro Squall**! **Electro Squall**! **Electro Squall**!"

Faris, meanwhile, was a bit distracted; he was looking at the frozen Piximon, with Lopmon behind him. He shook his head after a good ten seconds, and looked at Shayumon- and rushed to her.

"Velocimon's distracting him," he whispered hurredly to the injured shark, who pushed herself up and nodded. "You can get him from behind. Don't let him see it, 'less you want to go the way of the puffball." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to piximon.

Shayumon growled, and she lumbered at Wizardmon as he chased after Velocimon. She drew close, whipped her body around, and yelled:

"**Tail Saw**!"

Her tail glowing, she slashed her tail straight through Wizardmon. As the glow of her attack faded, Wizardmon began to glow, himself. His eyes grew wide, and away his data shot into the sky.

The brothers watched the data go off, and the shark and dinosaur lumbered alongside them; what they didn't know was that as the magician digimon faded away, Piximon began to move again.

"Are you okay?" Lopmon asked quietly; the boys turned to look at the small digimon.

"Great," Piximon responded, groaning as he looked at the kids and their partners. "I take it you're okay, then?" he added, looking at them.

"Fantastic," Julian drawled, but nodded, and looked at his brother. "Thanks, Fare."

Faris grinned.

"Iddn't that cute, yeom, they're actually acting like brothers," Shayumon chuckled; Velocimon smirked, but Julian and Faris looked at her with less amusement. Shayumon grinned and shrugged, and the two de-digivolved back to their child forms.

* * *

><p>Back around the embers that were once the fire, yet still before going to sleep, Julian, Faris, Delfinimon, and Iguamon sat on one log, with Piximon and Lopmon on the opposing one.<p>

"What is it with you two?" Faris asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his legs.

"We've been friends a very long time," Lopmon said.

"We've led the village for years," Piximon continued, before he pointed his spear at the fire; almost instantly, it roared to life. "We've seen quite a lot of betrayals... so, when someone comes back... we feel it's in all of our best interests to bring them back."

He looked pointedly at the twin eggs of Wizardmon and Witchmon.

"... were those the defectors you mentioned?" Julian asked, blinking a couple times.

Lopmon nodded. "Two of them. They're not unique in that."

"Sorry if we, err, lured them to you or anything, yeom," Delfinimon said, chuckling.

"I expected it would happen if we ever met the Virtue Warriors," Piximon said offhandedly, smirking. "I suppose you are good for something."

The kids and partner digimon looked at the pink digimon skeptically. However, after a second, Iguamon thought of something.

"We actually came here at all to ask you something," the dinosaur remarked- to see if there was any information about the seventh child.

"I'm sure we can talk about that in the morning," Lopmon said, and it was true- at the very words, the kids heads seemed much heavier.

"Uhm," Delfinimon remarked, "good idea."

"We've got watch, now," Piximon said, and gestured towards the huts with his spear. "You can work out a way to fit yourselves, yes?"

They needed no second bidding; the two humans and two digimon trudged off towards the huts.

* * *

><p>Perhaps a mile down the beach, familiar figures stood in the sand. They had watched the beams of shining data shoot into the sky- it could mean only one thing.<p>

"Two more of them gone."

"Yes, Forbidramon."

"Well, it's progress. Maybe I'll have to give them a checkup soon..."

"Era?"

"... yes. We should report to Lord Era first. Thank you."


	11. Chapter 11: Friends and Foes

"You had something you meant to ask?"

It was early, yet; none of the other digimon had awoken in the village, and only the kids, their partners, Piximon, and Lopmon sat around the fire (which, again, Piximon had been so kind as to light). A low fog hung overhead, blanketing the entire area in a cool grey and sending a chill throughout; the fire was welcomed, at that.

"Yeah!" Egakumon piped up, nodding vigorously.

"We were wondering if you'd seen any other humans in the past couple days," Toby said, idly placing his hand on Lammon's head.

Lopmon looked up, now, and blinked a couple times. He looked at Piximon, as though unsure what to say; after a moment, and only a tiny nod from the pink digimon, he looked at the kids again. "Actually..." he seemed clearly uncomfortable, but he sighed and continued. "We have. It was a few days ago."

The kids and digimon alike sprung to attentiveness.

"Where did he go!"

"What did he look like!"

"Was there a snake with him!"

Piximon looked mildly unimpressed. "One at a time," he said, then looked thoughtful. "I don't know where he went. We barely spoke to him; he merely asked if he could stay here and rest. He seemed lost."

"An agent attacked in the night," Lopmon added, holding up one ear as though holding up one finger. "I stayed out of it- he almost got the kid, but Piximon intervened."

"Yes, he had a snake with him," Piximon confirmed the third question, "named Sampamon." The digimon began to mutter and whisper to one another, until Piximon continued. "She digivolved after I kept the kid from being killed... I think the kid wasn't expecting that much. But they just left after that, in the middle of the night. The kid thanked me, apologized, and left. Went further inland, but that's all I know."

"So that's why you were worried about us attracting agents?" Emily asked, putting a finger to her chin in thought; Lopmon nodded once.

"But what did he look like?" Simon butted in. "If we know, we might be able to find him easier!"

There was a pause, before the brown rabbit spoke. "He was thin. Medium height. Blond hair, about chin-length. Had a jacket on, and the snake curled around him a lot. ... it's not much, but it's all I can recall."

"Thank you," Lammon said with a bow of her head.

"It's not much," Andrea said, standing up and stretching her arms out, "but it's something."

"It must have been when he first appeared," Kamomon reasoned; the others turned to look at him, and the seagull shrugged and elaborated. "A few days ago. Piximon said he seemed confused when Sampamon digivolved."

"So we don't know where he is now," Rajamon said, sounding irate, "or what's happened to him. Fantastic."

Piximon shrugged. "I'm sorry we can't be more of an assistance."

Simon sighed, and massaged his temples, and began idly tugging at his hat. "It's cool," he said, turning to look at the rest of his ragtag team. "... should we get going?"

* * *

><p>And so they did; heading off in the vague direction in which Piximon had pointed, they figured, was a better bet than anything else. The twelve moved through another thicket of trees, and onto rolling dunes.<p>

"What are the chances that he's anywhere near here, yeom?" Delfinimon asked, shaking a bit of stray sand off of her tailfin as they reached the valley of another set of dunes, stopping for a moment before starting up the next one.

"Considering the wind, the position of the sun, and some good old-fashioned guesswork?" Faris said, smiling. "Seven billion to one."

"Sounds about right!" Egakumon snickered.

"We'll find them," Emily said matter-of-factly, smiling cheerily. "... okay, so, probably in, like, a month, but we will!" Kamomon smiled up at his partner, and nodded.

"Assuredly!"

Neither seemed to notice the sort of dismayed looks that this remark earned them from the group at large.

Any further conversation was immediately cut short.  
>A small dark shape leapt over the group's heads, casting a shadow. It landed; a cloud of sand rose up, and only slowly settled; they immediately were put on the defensive. A fuzzy, ill-defined shape began to move towards them from inside the cloud, and the digimon tensed.<p>

A familiar little feline head poked out of the dust.

"Mikemon!"

Indeed, it was she; she was breathing heavily, her eyes closed tight. "Thank the Sovereigns I found you," the cat said, looking as though she were about to collapse- and then indeed, she did, belly-down on the sand.

"Are you okay?" Lammon asked, walking up closer gingerly, and gently laying one of her hoof-like hands on the cat's shoulder. Mikemon gritted her teeth and hissed.

"I'm taking that as a no,"Iguamon said, but an expression of concern passed even his face.

"What happened?" Simon said, his brows furrowing, and a frown tugging at his mouth.

Mikemon did not respond instantly. Slowly she cracked one eye open.  
>"An enemy. A stronger Agent than I've ever faced."<p>

The kids looked at eachother, and they all seemed to be thinking the same thing: _Forbidramon?_

Mikemon continued talking, sounding pained. "Dobermon is gone."

"You mean he got turned back into a-" Toby began, but with a sort of uncharacteristic barking tone, Mikemon cut him off.

"No! He's gone!" The tone in her voice betrayed some sort of deep anguish, as though she were on the verge of tears- indeed, if they were to look close the first traces of droplets were forming in the corners of her closed-tight eyes.

"... what?" Julian asked after a moment of silence, blinking.

"He took his digicore," Mikemon said woefully, pushing herself to her knees. "He's gone."

"His whatnow?" Simon asked; Egakumon tugged on his shirt.

"A digicore," the rabbit said, his voice wavering a bit- he was clearly worried, "is what makes a Digimon what it is. When we get reborn, all the excess data is stripped away from it- it's just put back into the egg. But if you destroy a digimon's digicore... then he can't be reborn."

"It's heresy," Lammon said, shaking her head. "Deekamon said it was one of the worst things you could possibly do to a digimon- the Sovereigns would punish you personally - before..."

"Before Era," Julian finished, folding his arms; Lammon nodded. "That Era guy's a real charmer, isn't he?"

Mikemon nodded, hanging her head. "I... don't know what to do..." the calico cat said, looking at the group. "Have you heard of a digimon called Forbi-"

"-Dramon, Yes," Andrea said quickly, sighing deeply. "We've met him. Fantastic!" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I was afraid of that," Mikemon said. There was a brief, uncomfortable silence, until...

"Oh, c'mon! I'm hurt!"

The group whipped around; standing on top of the dune they had just crossed over was suddenly an uncomfortably familiar figure with one large red hand.  
>"Miss me, kiddies?" Forbidramon asked, waving cheerfully. Reimon still sat stoically on his shoulder, watching with its big yellow eyes.<p>

"Not particularly," Simon muttered, his mouth twitching.

"Geeze, what a bunch of killjoys," Forbidramon muttered, putting his robotic arm on his hip. "I'm just checking in on the little Rebel Brigade, that's all. I _care_!" The tone in his voice was the sort that made grow the desire to punch his face in.  
>He smiled, suddenly, looking down, and his eye caught Mikemon. "Hello again!"<p>

Mikemon had pushed herself to her feet. Her pupils had narrowed into slits, and her arms were held out at her sides as though she were preparing to strike.

"Looks like kitty's still mad," their opponent drawled, a fake look of concern crossing his face. He began walking towards the group, slowly, deliberately.

"I'm going in," Mikemon muttered; Lammon, who was closest to her, frowned and looked at her quizically.

"Why?" she asked in a hushed whisper. "You're just going to be-"

"As though I care," the cat snapped back, and then suddenly she rushed through the group and at the approaching digimon.  
>"<strong>Nikukyuu Punch<strong>!" she cried, rearing her claws back as she rushed.

"Cute!" Forbidramon chuckled, and raised his red hand, waiting for her to run into it, until...

"Stoppit!" Egakumon yelped, dashing forward and smashing, side-long, into the rushing Mikemon, knocking her well off her course and away from the waiting Forbidramon. "Don't get yourself _killed_!" the rabbit growled, mustering all of his strength to keep the cat back- normally a much harder feat, considering their level difference, but apparently facilitated by Mikemon's weakness. He grabbed her arms from behind, and dug his heels into the ground.

Forbidramon grinned and clapped slowly. "Very nice! Thank you for saving me the effort, Egakumon."

"Shut up," the rabbit snarled, but still distracted with keeping the struggling cat back.

"You guys are rude," Forbidramon said, huffing. "I just wanted to check up on you. Is that a crime?"

"Well, considering..." Kamomon muttered, his eyes narrowed.

"What was that?" the enemy said, sounding insincerely curious. "Please, finish your sentence. I'm curious."

Kamomon looked at Forbidramon, and said in an even voice: "Well, considering you work for Era, I'd be surprised if our existance isn't a crime."

Forbidramon grinned and chuckled heartily. "You're an astute little birdy, aren't you?" His voice simply dripped with a condescending tone.

"If you're going to fight," Andrea said, Rajamon rearing back as his partner spoke, "then do it. We don't need the peanut-gallery comments."

Yellow eyes fell on the pair. "Temper, temper!" their opponent said with a nasty, sharp-tooth-baring grin, obviously quite enjoying the reaction he was recieving. "But I'm not here to fight you. Really, it's not worth my _time_. You understand. None of you are even at Perfect level yet!"

"That didn't stop you from killing Dobermon!" Mikemon yelled, struggling against Egakumon anew.

Forbidramon simply looked at the dismayed cat, then... grinned and shrugged. "Well, that's life, innit? Now..." He snapped his fingers. "Wakey wakey!"

With that, Reimon, sitting silently on Forbidramon's shoulder, closed its eyes and began to glow faintly.

The ground began to shake.

"Not _again_," Faris groaned, struggling to keep his footing. Bursts of sand were thrown into the air, and the kids and digimon had to cover their eyes as the rumbling grew stronger and stronger, until...

A throaty roar boomed out; the group carefully peeked out from behind their hands and arms.

Erupting from the sand beneath them was a huge digimon.  
>Of course.<p>

First was its shell- like a great hermit-crab's makeshift shell, dark-grey, with barnacles stuck on at places and great spikes placed at regular interrvals. Then came the rest of its body, pink and shiny, with blueish patches and matching blue eyes. Its arms ended in hands tipped with four suction-cup-like fingers; on top of its head was a mass of green... hair? It was equal parts seaweed-esque and tentacle-like, and hard to place, exactly.

Strangely, however, while the digimon was growling and looking around, the kids D-GEAR units didn't light up.

"Wha-" Emily muttered, looking at her digivice curiously.

"It's not an agent," Forbidramon mused from his place- in fact, he had sat down on the dune, looking on with curiosity as though watching a movie- all he was missing was a tub of popcorn. "Yet, that is. I can change that."  
>Forbidramon lifted his robotic arm, and shot a blast of energy into the sky; with it came a tremendous sound, like a starting-pistol but louder fifty-fold. The kids and partner digimon covered their ears; the giant digimon, meanwhile, let loose a moaning roar and looked around until it spied the source. Its eyes narrowed.<p>

"Hello!" the dragon-like man said, spreading his arms. "My name is Forbidramon. I work for Lord Era! You, too, shall have this glorious opportunity!" He aimed his robotic hand, now, at the new digimon. In the cannon in the palm of his hand, energy began to gather. "Or else."  
>The digimon didn't seem to speak but it reared back in fear; it seemed to get the point.<p>

"Good thing Shellmon are idiots, it doesn't take much..." Forbidramon muttered to Reimon, before continuing in a normal tone. "Attack them if you want to continue living."

"What a choice!" Andrea muttered, but she took a step back. Shellmon turned on them, and their digivices began their characteristic glow.

"_Shellmon. Adult-level mollusk digimon. Its shell protects its soft, vulnerable body. It's not very intelligent, but it is violent; beware. It attacks with its Aqua Blaster to fire high-pressure water, or its Slamming Attack to use its bulk on an enemy._

"Move!" Andrea barked quickly as Shellmon reared back, lifting one hand- it was too close for comfort. The group needed no second bidding; like an unruly mob, they made a mad dash behind the dune opposite Forbidramon's.

Only once they were out of the mollusk's range did Emily notice that Kamomon hadn't followed suit- she was a mite preoccupied with not getting smushed.

"**Seagull Strike**!" Kamomon's voice drifted over; Emily whipped around at the sound.  
>There was the sound of the bird's attack hitting soft flesh, and a sort of rumbling growl in return.<p>

Emily barely had time to run back around to see what was going on before her D-GEAR started to glow.

"Kamomon, kickstart digivolve to... Kaizokumon!"

Needless to say, it was still horrifically mismatched- the pirate bird was only a couple heads taller than even the taller kids, and was still massively dwarfed in comparison to the giant monster.

"What are you doing!" Emily yelled, cupping her hands over her mouth to better reach her partner. Kaizokumon leapt backwards away from the mollusk before he turned his head, and gave a dramatic bow.

"Protecting yeh!" he said simply, before he whipped his pistol off of his belt. "**Flintlock Shock**!" he sqawked, firing it up at Shellmon's face.  
>A glowing shot erupted from the gun, and hit its mark; this caused a problem of its own, however, as Shellmon retreated quickly into its shell entirely.<p>

Quickly, the pirate seagull attempted to fire another couple shots- to no avail, as they simply hit the strong shell and dissipated harmlessly. Kaizokumon seemed at a loss.

Until, of course, there was a cry from behind the dune:  
>"Lammon, kickstart digivolve to... Ariamon!"<br>Out rushed the two-legged, smoky Ariamon, with Toby riding on her back. First, she ran up to Emily, and as she trotted to a stop, Toby leapt off; he stumbled in the sand, falling to his knees for a second.

Emily looked at the short boy; he beamed up at her, then stood up, putting a hand on the sheep's side.  
>"I thought you could use some help!"<p>

Emily beamed right back, then looked over at Kaizokumon; her partner seemed to be having trouble thinking of anything to do, and was rapidly looking between Shellmon and the passively-observing Forbidramon.  
>Then, an idea struck her.<br>"Ariamon!" she said excitedly, looking at the sheep.

"Yes?"

"You've got that smoky attack thing," she said, speaking fast, "do you think you can choke Shellmon out, maybe?"

Ariamon looked at her for a second, before she closed her eyes and nodded. "I can try."  
>While they were speaking, however, Kaizokumon took his chance to leap at Shellmon. "<strong>Kaizoku Kick<strong>!" he yelled, smashing his foot into the digimon's shell- again, to absolutely no avail, and he had to grab onto one of the spikes protruding from Shellmon's... shell, to avoid falling right in front of it.

"Kaizokumon!" Emily yelled, cupping her hands again. He looked at her, curiously, from his hanging point. "Cover Ariamon!"  
>Kaizokumon nodded, and whipped himeslf around to stand on Shellmon's back for a moment.<p>

"I feel like I'm channelling Julian or something," Emily said with a smile, as Ariamon rushed forward.

The sheep ran back and forth in front of the empty hole of the mollusk's shell; as she passed, she called out: "**Smokescreen**!"  
>From the trailing end of her body, smoke poured out- and, as predicted, drifted into the aquatic digimon's shell. Barely did she clear the space before the pink head erupted again, coughing hard and blinded by the smoke.<p>

Kaizokumon leapt off of his enemy's back, once more smashing his foot into Shellmon: "**Kaizoku Kick**!"

Shellmon roared; Kaizokumon barely cleared him, returning to the pair of kids with Ariamon running after him, before another individual entered the battle.  
>This was not a good development.<p>

"This has gone on long enough," Forbidramon said, pressing his robotic hand into Shellmon's forehead. "**Dark Wave**!"  
>His hand pulsed black for a split second, before it spread into Shellmon; the mollusk gave a confused, pained roar, before he went up in a flash of data. An egg was left behind- which Forbidramon walked straight up to.<p>

The remaining kids and digimon ran around the dune as well (with Mikemon piggybacking on Simon), as soon as they heard Forbidramon's voice... and were just in time to see him put one foot on top of Shellmon's digitama and smash it with the heel of his boot.  
>Mikemon's arms tightened around Simon's shoulders; they could only watch. A small, glowing, pinkish orb, the size of a baseball, was left behind among the fragments of shells. Forbidramon picked it up and turned it over in his hand, and looked at Reimon.<p>

"Here," he said, holding it up. Reimon turned into a puff of black smoke temporarily, engulfing the object in Forbidramon's hand. When it returned to physical form, the little core was gone...  
>And Reimon grew in size.<p>

"Reimon, digivolve to..." Its body enlongated to roughly the size of the other child-level digimon. It grew actual arms, its hind legs changed into a smoky tail, and a silver chained collar snapped around its neck, while chains themselves wrapepd around its limbs. The yellow spots above its eyes morphed, combining, into one third eye in the middle of its forehead.

"Ichimon," it finished in a hauntingly quiet, silky voice, floating in mid-air next to Forbidramon.

Forbidramon raised an eyebrow at the newly-digivolved digimon, smirking. "Only Child form? _You're_taking your sweet time, aren't you."

"Yes, Forbidramon," it said, though its mouth - if it had one - didn't move.

"That's..." Simon said, staring blankly ahead.

"He's out of his mind," Egakumon muttered, clenching his claws into fists.

Forbidramon looked over at the group, and smiled. "Well, I got what _I_ wanted out of this. Didn't even have to work for it. Thanks, kiddos!"  
>With that, Forbidramon held his arm out to Ichimon. It crawled up onto his shoulders and curled its smoky body around them, and Forbidramon leapt away into the dunes with a flick of his tail as though to wave goodbye.<p>

The digimon and humans alike stared- but if the kids looked, they would see each of their six partner digimon trembling.

"He was using us to help him defeat that thing," Julian said slowly, frowning.

"As though he needed us to do that for him anyway," Iguamon pointed out, brows furrowing.

Ariamon looked over, and she seemed distressed. "He was doing it to prove he could."

"Aye," Kaizokumon said, holstering his gun and shaking his head. "He was _playing with us_."

"_Again_," Rajamon spat, his tail thrashing back and forth.

Faris frowned, picking Delfinimon up again; the dolphin looked up at her partner, and chuckled nervously. "What a charmer, huh, yeom?"

"I kind of want to punch his face in," Simon said, folding his arms and frowning. There was something about him that touched on every single one of the boy's beserk-buttons- and honestly, most of the other kids. As far as Simon could tell, Forbidramon was rude, he was smarmy, he acted like a bratty little kid, he attacked digimon that couldn't fight back.

What a charmer, indeed.

"Are you going to be okay?" Egakumon asked, looking up at the cat piggy-backing on his partner's back. Mikemon lept off of Simon, and was shaking noticably- she almost looked like she was going to be sick.

"I can't believe it," she said, putting her head in her be-gloved paws and shaking it. "That's-"

"Not supposed to happen," Ariamon said, shaking her head again. She paused, and walked over, gently pressing her head alongside Mikemon. It was understandable- the poor calico had seen two digimon in one day be subjected to what seemed to be one of the most unthinkable acts possible.

"Are you going to be okay?" Toby asked, looking at Mikemon with a frown.

"I'm... going to go see Piximon," she said quietly, and began trudging off towards the village.

The kids couldn't complain- if there was anywhere she could go...

"Stay safe, yeom," Delfinimon bid her; Mikemon tossed a single wave over her shoulder, and took off on all fours as fast as she could without stumbling in the sand or over her own feet.

The kids and digimon stood rooted to the place for a moment; the shattered remains of Shellmon's digitama still lay on the ground, and it seemed that none of the digimon wanted to look at it.

"Let's go," Andrea said after a moment, kneeling down and placing a hand on the tuft on Rajamon's head.

And so the group turned to resume walking- and on each of the kids' minds was attempts to think of how to get stronger in order to beat Forbidramon into the dust.


	12. Chapter 12: Keeping Tally

_Heyloo people, been a whole since I stuck an author's note on here. Sorry re:the delay on this one, but that's not why I stick an obtrusive author's note here. Nope; its that a character near the end of the chapter, Denimon, isn't mine! He belongs to a friend, Chi, who placed first in a little contest I was holding. Denimon will continue to appear in the next episode. Also, later on, the second-place winner will appear, but it's all a matter of how I could work it out. Anyway..._

_Denimon belongs to Chi (barghestmon at deviantart), and you should all go read the FDD project from which Denimon hails, Digimon Advent (hosted here on_ _, under the username DigimonAdvent), because it's freakin' sweet._

* * *

><p>The kids went on for several days, making almost no progress. Oh, of course, they wandered around the island, having fights and encountering digimon, both friend and foe, taking advice and direction from the more amicable ones, but they found themselves no closer to finding the seventh child. By the time a week had passed since they had last seen Forbidramon, they had made several discoveries.<p>

One: They were on an island. This realization came about when, heading inland, they found themselves... on a beach facing what they assumed was east (providing that the sun still rose in the east in the Digital World; Julian pointed out that it might have not been so when this idea was put forth).  
>Two: food was scarce, and when they fell upon any of it - mostly Terrafruit, which the kids were suspecting could grow anywhere. Also of note was that it seemed to grow back immediately once picked; regardless, the group could only carry so much, and after they had eaten what they could they rationed what they brought away, unsure of when they'd find more.<br>Three: They were trouble-magnets. Not a day passed that they didn't get attacked once or twice. Their digimon were growing more confident in their abilities, but never once did a digimon appear that made their D-GEARS use the term 'perfect'- the level of their _beloved_ Forbidramon. They counted themselves lucky for this much.

"**Paint Blast**!" Shokunimon yelled, holding his paintbrush out like a shotgun as he nailed a large shrimp-like dragon (dragon-like shrimp?) that their D-GEARs had declared to be Ebidramon.

"**Vanish Strike**!" Ariamon followed up, fading into smoke and smashing her entire body into Ebidramon's side as he was blinded by the corrosive paint that felt to be melting his face.  
>With a howl and a roar, Ebidramon turned tail and fled into the surf.<p>

With a flash of light, both Adult digimon returned to their Child forms; Egakumon grinned. "What's the score now? Two to one?" He looked to Iguamon for confirmation.

"I can't believe you two are still counting this," the dinosaur replied cooly, shaking his head. "I refuse to be an accessory to it."

"It doesn't count, anyway," Rajamon said airily, flicking his tail. "Lammon was the one who got the last hit in. So it's still one to one."

The little sheep blinked a couple times. "... you two realize this isn't a game of tennis, right? You're not competing..."  
>Her meek voice was overridden by Egakumon hopping in to reply to the tiger.<p>

"Pfff, fine, one to one. You just don't wanna lose!"

Simon laughed, shaking his head; the past couple of days, the rabbit and the tiger had decided that they wanted to turn it into a game of who could defeat more attackers.  
>"They act like a couple bratty twins," Simon remarked, looking over at Andrea; she had her arms folded, looking impassive.<p>

The older girl looked over at Simon after a second, and smirked. "Yeah, but Rajamon's right. That didn't count, Lammon had to help out."

"Oh, not _you two_ now," Faris groaned, cupping his hands over his ears.

"Like digimon, like partner, yeom," Delfinimon chirruped, smiling.

"Ain't that the truth," Faris said right back, rolling his eyes.  
>That was yet another thing they had discovered over the past week; the partnerships were remarkable, even more than they might have noticed in the first couple of days. Faris and Delfinimon bounced off eachother from time to time like a comedy duo, whilst Julian and Iguamon worked in an almost-creepily-perfect sort of tandem; why, even Rajamon seemed willing to follow directions if they came from Andrea.<p>

The digimon had said (or, rather, Egakumon said that Deekamon had said) something about the Sovereigns and Yggdrasil, but for the most part it had gone entirely over the kids' heads. The names still didn't mean much of anything to them, honestly.

"So where do we go from here?" Kamomon asked, flapping his wings and flying in place near Emily. The bird cast a look around; they were a short ways away from the beach proper, and Ebidramon's tracks were still in the sand. Both up and down the beach, it was an expanse of white sand and seaweed. There were clouds creeping in over the surf again, but the sky above was clear; the sun hung overhead, giving the impression that it was around noon.

"I propose," Emily said, looking at her avian companion, "that we give it a rest for a little bit, yeah?" When the others (and digimon) looked at her quizically, she continued. "We've been walking around for, what, ten days? We just stop for the nights, and... I donno. Y'know what I mean?" she said, shrugging apologetically.

"I think she has a point," Julian said, to the surprise of just about everyone except Iguamon. "We've been wandering around on wild goose chases since we got here."

"And 'sides that," Faris cut in cheerfully, "this beach is rockin'."

There was a bit of apprehension, but Toby spoke up. "If the digimon think they can be ready if something happens..."

"Booyah!" Egakumon blurted, sticking a fist in the air.

"I'm gonna take that one as a yes," Simon laughed.

* * *

><p>Even those who were less ready to let down their guard (read: Andrea and Rajamon) loosened up very quickly when they got down to it, plopped down the warm sand. It felt like they hadn't sat down proper in days; Simon promptly flopped onto his back, soaking in the sun rays.<br>"Feels great, ma- whoof!"  
>That last bit was on account of Egakumon belly-flopping onto his partner's stomach, grinning.<p>

"Y'make a good beach towel, Si."

Simon gave the rabbit a _look_ and shoved him off, sitting up. He took a look around.  
>Delfinimon and Faris had taken off for the water immediately. Andrea sat a little ways away, her little mp3 player in her hand; one of her earbuds was in her ear, and the other rested in Rajamon's. Toby had shed his large hoodie for the first time, and revealed a plain black t-shirt underneath; Lammon used the discarded sweater as a sort of beach-towel, settling down on it. Julian and Iguamon took up a place underneath a nearby palm-tree, while Emily and Kamomon followed Simon's example and promptly collapsed into the sand.<p>

The be-goggled boy pondered for a second, then stretched out, lying down again. "We should do something as a group, I think," he mused.

"Instead of just wandering around?" Toby said with a little smile.

"Well, yeah!" Simon replied, looking up at the sky. "I mean, we've been wandering around for a week and a half, and I can't remember half of your last names."

"That may not be because of unfamiliarity," Iguamon pointed out, his hands behind his head as he reclined on the tree. Julian smirked. It took a moment for Simon to catch on, but then...

"... hey!" he said, huffing a little bit.

"But what do you suggest?" Emily said before he could continue; she was still laying down, smiling serenely, her eyes closed.

"What, sit around and talk about all of our _hopes and dreams_?" Andrea asked, pulling out her one earbud; her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Simon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no. We all know already that your dream is to become grand dictator of the world."

"Wrong!" Andrea said, smirking. "I want to be grand dictator of the _universe_." With that she put her earbud back in, but kept talking. "So what do you propose?"

* * *

><p>Far away from where the kids and their partners mused, a piering wind howled and ripping over a sandy, barren landscape, while perpetually purple-red clouds swirled overhead.<br>Inside, it was dark, except for a single halo of light where a familiar figure stood. He cast a look around himself, flicked his tail, and gave a look to the black creature curled around his shoulders. He nodded once; Ichimon disappeared into a puff of black smoke, and then reappeared, standing behind him.

"You beckoned, Lord Era?" Forbidramon said, now, lowering himself onto one knee and bowing his head.

There was nobody else visible in the room; the voice that replied seemed to echo off of every wall, coming from nowhere and everywhere. "Why haven't they been handled yet?" it asked, a very even-toned voice with a distinct sneering inflection.

Forbidramon was unfazed, and stood up straight again. "I believe there's something to be gained from prolonging it, Lord Era. All they are doing is eliminating weak and stupid Agents, in the meantime." He paused, and the corner of his mouth curled up, baring bright-white teeth so sharp they would have seemed filed. "And beside that, it's more fun. ... sir."

There was a pause.

"I advise you don't wait until they can fight back."

Forbidramon snorted; if there were any other members of the Era Corps present somewhere hidden in the darkness, they would have been aghast. "As though there's any risk of that, Lord," he replied, putting his arms akimbo.

"If you put it off for too long, there will be consequences. You know this?"

"Yes, Lord Era," the digimon replied in a measured tone, nodding once. A second later: "Do you need me further?"

"No."

Forbidramon dropped to his knee again and bowed his head once more. "Thank you, Lord Era."

With that, Ichimon reappeared on his shoulders; the light shut off, and Forbidramon walked through the darkness out of the room. One, two, three steps- and they were abruptly outside, standing in the sand of an unfamiliar beach.  
>"Thank you, Ichimon," Forbidramon said; the little black digimon nodded. He looked up and down the length of the beach; there was no sign of the children anywhere, but more importantly, no sign of their scent. He shrugged, and began to walk.<p>

"Why are you so nonchalant, Forbidramon?" Ichimon asked quietly, adjusting its position.

"What do I have to fear?" the dragon-man digimon replied, raising an eyebrow under his face mask. "Lord Era isn't going to get rid of me any time soon, I have faith in that. Above all, I am loyal." For once, there was a sort of strange sincerity in his voice; he smirked, however, as he continued. "And moreover, none of the brats or their _pets_ stand a chance, nor will they. I just don't want to end it just yet."

Ichimon nodded once, but said nothing, laying its head down.

* * *

><p>The kids and digimon, meanwhile, had seemed to relax considerably, through a series of whatever parlor-games they could think of after they managed to drag Faris and Delfinimon out of the water. The kids taught the digimon the rules of games like Mafia, and Emily was a veritable fountain of silly little tongue-twister games (she said something about 'drama warm-up exercises'), while the digimon provided games of their own.<br>(Needless to say, Egakumon and Rajamon quickly devolved into keeping fastidious score.)

The afternoon began to wane as the sun went down, and the combined forces of Kamomon and Lammon found a veritable bounty of Terrafruit trees barely a hop and a skip away from their location. After a wood-gathering excursion up and down the beach, Rajamon was kind enough to help them light a small fire, around which the twelve individuals huddled.

"We should be careful not to let it get big enough to attract attention," Iguamon remarked on the subject of the fire, but he seemed to welcome it.  
>Honestly, this was the first proper "camp" they had made- the past week had been characterized by sleeping under trees when they got tired, while someone stayed up on guard-duty.<p>

It was a refreshing change.

Seated in the sand around the little fire, the group leisurely eating whatever Terrafruit they fancied, Egakumon looked over at his partner. "Hey, Si."

"Yo?"

"What's it like where you're from? Like, not the real world, y'told us all about that back at Piximon's, but... like, where you specifically are from."

Simon paused, and looked at his rabbit partner. "... oh! Yeah... man, being out here's all kinds of weird to me." When Egakumon looked confused, he elaborated: "I'm a city kid, y'know? Like that place back when we came into this Area, 'cept, like, fifty times bigger." He cast a look up to the sky, as stars began to dot it.

"So being out here in the middle of nowhere's kind of a shock, huh?" Faris picked up; when attention turned to him, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Whaddaya mean, Far?" Delfinimon asked, placing her head on her partner's lap and looking up at him, smiling serenely; he put a head on one of her headfins.

Faris motioned to Julian with one thumb, then to himself. "We're from kind of a middle-of-nowhere sorta place. Jules still lives there, but..." he paused, and trailed off, smiling.

"I refuse to believe that," Delfinimon commented, smirking, "as that would imply that the population in that kinda place ever exceeded three, yeom." Even Julian smiled thinly at that.

Faris chuckled, and cleared his throat. "Just mean that when my pa and I moved to the city, it was kinda the same thing, in reverse... so it's kind of a shock now to be back to this. 'Cept there weren't psycho monsters running around trying to kill me in the ci- wait a second. Inner city drivers. Strike that, it's exactly like adjusting to the city."

There was a collective groan.

"What city, exactly?" Kamomon piped up, fluffing his feathers up, the picture of curiosity. "Like, what's it called?"

"Capital City," Julian said, sitting back. "I visit Faris and my father there a couple times a year. 'Round holidays."

As soon as this was stated, there was a clamor from the other children; apparently, Emily had visited, despite living halfway across the country (she had family there); Toby remarked quietly that he had been through the city once or twice, but had never really stayed. Andrea, meanwhile, lived in the suburbs of the city as well.

"Do you think it has anything to do with...?" Toby asked, then, folding his legs and sitting tailor-style. Lammon looked up at him, and predicted what he was going to say.

"Why you're here?" the sheep asked, and paused. She thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "Possibly."

"Sounds like the premise for a kids' show," Julian remarked; nobody seemed to have heard him except for Iguamon.

Rajamon paused, and flicked his tail back and forth. "We'll have to ask Captain Craz-" he paused, and looked at Egakumon, before he ammended, "... Deekamon, next time we talk to him."

Andrea sighed, but nodded at the tiger. "Worth a shot."

What the group, caught up in conversation, did not notice was the dark figure suddenly standing in the sparing trees not far away.  
>They did, however, notice what accompanied the unannounced figure.<p>

It was hard to miss the latter because it made itself known in the least subtle way possible.  
>A giant swirling black portal appeared, for just a moment. From it, stepped a digimon. It was a gigantic blue dinosaur; a ridge of dulled spikes ran down its back, and it had two full tails dragging behind. That was not what was impressive. What was impressive that it did not have hands, but rather one arm turned into a skull with fearsome teeth, while the other was long and half-robotic, bifurcating into yet another mouth from which drool ran freely.<p>

"Meet Deltamon!" yelled a familiar voice; when the kids turned to look, however, they found themselves with a giant skull-hand smashing their fire, and the entire group scattered at only the last second.

"Crap!" Egakumon growled, gripping his paintbrush tight as he tumbled into the sand.

The kids D-GEARs sprang to life.

_Deltamon. Adult-level Composition digimon. A brutal digimon, with a mind only for destruction, created by a computer bug's forcing three separate digimon to fuse, it can attack multiple enemies with ease with its Triple Force._

"Long time no see, kiddos!" Forbidramon's voice drifted over, though they couldn't see him; they could just see the smile on his face.

"_Not long enough_, yeom," Delfinimon muttered under her breath.

"Get over here and fight!" Rajamon snarled at Forbidramon, wherever eh was; the fact that it was unwise to do so was totally lost on him.

"I think we have bigger problems," Emily said with a bit of a waver in her voice, as Deltamon opened all three of its mouths at once.

As energy began to gather in its mouths, so did energy on their D-GEAR units.

"Egakumon, kickstart digivolve to... Shokunimon!"  
>"Kamomon, kickstart digivolve to... Kaizokumon!"<br>"Iguamon, kickstart digivolve to... Velocimon!"  
>"Delfinimon, kickstart digivolve to... Shayumon!"<p>

The four adult-level digimon leapt out of the way just in time; Deltamon cried out "**Triple Force**!" and fired the a beam of energy from all three mouths, the force combinining into one beam. Meanwhile, Lammon was preoccupied with shooing noncombattants out of the way, away from the ocean itself, further back up the beach.

"It can attack three of us at once," Velocimon said as those fighting came to a rest, speaking very rapidly, keeping on his toes. "That obviously means that..."

"One has to actually attack while the other three dodge?" Shokunimon filled in; the friendlier dinosaur nodded once.

"I will," Shayumon offered quickly. "Kind of hard to dodge when y'ain't got legs, y'know, yeom?"

They didn't have a moment to spare; the four had to jump out of the way immediately as Deltamon lunged forward, holding its skull-adorned arm forward. "**Serpent Bite**!" it bellowed, and the arm began to glow with data. Shayumon didn't get her bulky tail-end out of the way fast enough; trying to wriggle free, she found quickly that it was pinning her, by her tail, into the sand.

"**Tumble Kick**!" Shokunimon yelled quickly, somersaulting forward and smashing his foot into the arm- to little avail. That is to say, he hopped away quickly, holding his now-throbbing foot.

Instead, however, Velocimon rushed in. "**Fast Strike**!" he growled, putting his head down. One second, he was a short distance away; the next, he was smashing straight into their enemy's limb. It didn't seem to hurt the other dinosaur at all, but it achieved what it was meant to do- Deltamon's skull arm moved enough for Shayumon to wriggle free.  
>Of course, wriggle free meant tumble forward, head-over-tail, but she quickly regained her composure.<p>

"Aye, lad, get movin'! Now!" Kaizokumon yelled as Deltamon began to gather energy in its mouths again. With that, Velocimon, Kaizokumon, and Shokunimon (admittedly, the last of which who still had an aching foot) broke in three different directions.  
>Shokunimon rushed forward at Deltamon, and only at the last second did he put forth a tremendous effort and leapt straight over the dinosaur's head. He didn't clear him, instead having to do a quick landing and jump off of Deltamon's tail, landing on the sand behind; Velocimon ran to the left and Kaizokumon to the right, both circling around.<p>

"Shayumon!" Shokunimon yelled at the top of his little rabbit-y lungs, just before Deltamon turned to those who had run behind it, and roared again.

"**Triple Force**!"  
>The three beams of energy, this time, did not combine; instead, one was aimed directly at each of the three. Each landed soundly; Velocimon, Kaizokumon, and Shokunimon were all blasted backwards with a mighty force.<p>

"**Wavebreak Crash**!" Shayumon roared, and straight into Deltamon's back she crashed, indeed, propelled by a powerful jet of water.  
>Deltamon was not happy about this.<p>

In a way far too fast for how large he was, Deltamon whipped around and in its drooling, half-mechanical arm-mouth, it suddenly grabbed Shayumon. The shark let out a cry of pain; around the points where the teeth were cutting into her body, she was starting to glow white, her body preparing to de-digivolve her to preserve what energy she had.

"**Flintlock Shock**!" Kaizokumon yelled urgently, firing three shots quickly at the lower jaw of the mouth; one hit true, while the other two struck its body. Much to the dismay of those watching, and especially Shayumon herself, this only seemed to cause Deltamon's grip on her to tighten.

In a surge of white light, Shayumon had degenerated back into Shayumon. There was one upside to this; Deltamon's arm-jaw did not snap shut in time, and Delfinimon tumbled to the ground.  
>In a flash, Shokunimon darted in, scooping the dolphin up into his arms, and kicking his way out of Deltamon's range as quickly as he could, only barely escaping being smashed. He rushed for where the kids had retreated to, just off of the beach and nearer the trees, and set the dolphin down. The rabbit stayed there; he prepared to run if Deltamon turned attentions, but...<p>

"We can't get close enough to hit anything other'n its arms!" Kaizokumon growled, clutching his pistol tightly; immediately after speaking, he began firing it again. "**Flintlock Shock**!"  
>Once again, the shots had little affect- this time because Deltamon held up his bony arm to shield himself.<p>

All of a sudden, though, there was a great splash of water. A humanoid figure rushed close; it was holding a staff in one hand, tipped with a blade on one end.  
>In the blink of an eye, it had leapt into the air and smashed back down near Deltamon from behind, before it could even respond.<p>

"**Breaker Blade**!"

The figure slashed its blade across Deltamon's back.  
>It seemed to have struck a weak point- or, more accurately, the one place that Shayumon had struck before. It wasn't without a cost- as Deltamon began to glow white, as though bleeding data from the cut, it whirled around and let out one last attack:<br>"**Serpent Bite**!"  
>As its skull-like hand began to glow, it managed to catch the newcomer and close it- just for a second. That same newcomer began to glow, too... but as an egg fell to the ground, so fell a smaller digimon. A whirl of data off of the stranger combined with the shot of light off of what was once Deltamon, as though the streams had been metaphorically crossed, temporarily, with Deltamon's attack.<p>

Or at least, that was the best guess that anyone had.

Immediately, the kids (and Lammon) rushed forward; Faris held Delfinimon in his arms, of course. Those remaining in adult form began to shine and they, too, returned to child form. All present craned their necks to look at the creature alongside the egg.

It was small, and looked like some sort of cross between a dinosaur, a shark, and a reptile. It was denim-blue, with a a white underside, and a sort of sail-like fin on the back of its head. Its eyes were closed...  
>Until they weren't. One big cyan eye slid open, and a grin spread across its face.<p>

"Blue ranger at your service!" the strange digimon said with a grin, still lying on its side.

"Not much of a ranger anymore," Delfinimon said, smiling a little bit, sounding out of breath and harried. "You're a lot smaller than you were before, yeom."

The digimon paused and looked at himself, sitting up but not yet standing. There was a pause, and then "... where did my pants _goooo_!"

The group at large couldn't keep themselves from chuckling, before Iguamon stepped forward, and coughed. "Thank you," he said in a tone that was cordial but confused-at-best.

"We'd be kinda, y'know, doomed," Kamomon said, but then paused. "... or, well, we could have managed, but..."

"No problem!" the little blue digimon chirruped, smiling. They found it hard to suspect the little digimon- Andrea made no cynical comments, even! His sunniness was already nothing short of infectious.

Toby smiled, and picked up his half-buried-in-the-sand hoodie and dusted it off. "Um, and your name is?"

The blue digimon grinned. "I'm Denimon!"

"I like'im," Delfinimon said decisively, smiling and nodding once at Faris, who smiled back, though there was a level of worry on his face- not about the newcomer, but residual from what had happened to the little dolphin just before.

Greetings were exchanged and names were given.  
>It was then that another problem presented itself.<p>

"Hey, guys?" Simon said, looking around, his brows furrowing. When attention has turned to him, he looked at the group.  
>"... where did Andrea and Rajamon go?<p> 


	13. Chapter 13: Unlucky Thirteen

"Crap crap crap crap _crap_."

Simon muttered the word, looking at the sky and clutching the sides of his head like they were halves of a coconut that he was trying to keep from falling apart.

"Did I miss something?" Denimon asked, tilting his head.

"You guys," Lammon said, quietly.

"Yeah, we're kind of two members short of a team, yeom," Delfinimon, still being held by Faris, answered, her brow furrowed. She looked up at Faris.

"There's another... pair of partners," Julian said, having to search for the proper way to put it, and he frowned a little bit. "And they iapparently/i they ran off. Why am I not surprised?"

"Or..." Faris said, but trailed off; he shook his head.

Indeed, Emily too shook her head, and looked down at her feet. "Let's try to be optimistic?" he tried, looking down at Kammon, whose expression was clearly dismayed.

"You guys?" Toby tried, as the group began to talk all at once; he was lost under the chatter.

For about thirty seconds, there was mass chaos throughout the little makeshift camp, until...

"_You guys_!" Toby and Lammon up and _yelled _togther; considering both of their usually-quiet tempraments, the rest turned to look immediately. (Except Denimon, who was busy watching a bird digimon fly by, far overhead; he looked after a short delay, when he realized that the group had turned attentions.)

Once the group's eyes were on them, Toby sighed and returned to his usual lower volume. "Don't our D-GEAR things-"

"D-GEAR units," Lammon corrected quietly, but she let her partner continue.

The short boy held up his black D-GEAR, and pointed to it, a bit exasperated. "They have a radar, remember? Unless Andrea dropped it, I mean, we should be able to... right?"

There was a moment of silence- and then a group face-palm and an unspoken _duh._

"We... haven't had to use it before now," Emily admitted a bit sheepishly, rubbing her upper arm.

"Well, let's not waste time!" Kamomon half-yelped, flapping his arms. "Who knows what could've happened to her already?"

"Can I help?" Denimon asked cheerfully, sitting up straight.

The humans and digimon looked at eachother for a moment; he probably couldn't digivolve, but another set of eyes couldn't hurt, could it?

* * *

><p>The beast roared, rearing its head back and snarling. Andrea could feel its hot breath from where she stood, even as it towered over her.<p>

"I see y'got a bit of a problem!" Forbidramon's sneering voice drawled from behind; Andrea tightened her fist, instinctively whipping around as though the imposing, skull-faced digimon weren't there.

"We've got this under control!" the girl snapped. "Rajamon, help me out, here!"

* * *

><p>The remaining five kids and digimon, followed closely by Denimon, took off through the sandy scrub and thin grass. They bumped into trees and even saw evidence of life, other digimon, popping their heads out to see what was the matter. They paid them no need, a flurry of feet kicking up debris, eyes on the lookout for girl or tiger, following the blinking dot on the map.<p>

They ran towards it, full-tilt, for almost twenty minutes, and though they were almost there it felt like no headway had been made. Stitches in their sides and breathing heavily- even the digimon seemed to have lost their fuel - they slowly came to a stop.

"How'd she get this far away?" Egakumon panted, shaking his head, his ears flopping around him.

"I don't know," Delfinimon groaned, flopping into the sand- she had refused to let Faris carry her all this way, and had lolloped the entire way. Her fins hurt like no other. "Maybe she turned into some sort of mach-speed digimon."

Denimon blinked. "You things can do that?" he asked cheekily, looking between the humans.

"No," Julian replied dryly- literally, it seemed, as he began to cough. His mouth felt like sandpaper after all that running.

Simon frowned, looking at his D-GEAR- the dot that he assumed signified Andrea hadn't moved; that much concerned him.

"C'mon, guys," he said, adjusting his hat. "Not too much farther?" the boy tried, looking up.

They went as fast as they could, closing in on the signal; when the dots almost overlapped, they found themselves in a little thicket.

And then, from behind the harried group, was a familiar voice.

"Having fun?"

The kids almost instantly snapped around; there, standing between a pair of trees, with arms folded, was a tall, purple-skinned digimon with a dark figure curled around his neck.

"What did you-" Iguamon began, his eyes narrowing and pupils contracting.

"Do?" Forbidramon asked. He was smiling- which was never, ever a good sign. "Oh, hello kiddies. Nice to see you again!"

"You know this loser?" Denimon asked to whoever was nearest- this time, that being Kamomon. The bird nodded once, but didn't take his gaze off of Forbidramon.

The perfect-level shrugged. "I've got to tell y'eh the truth-"

Egakumon gave a cough that sounded remarkably like 'for once'; though Forbidramon's eyes fell on the little bunny, just for a split second, he didn't stop.

"_I_ didn't do anything." He made a show of turning over a little shining orb in his hand. "But I really must thank you, by the way. You make it so much easier, I barely even have to put effort into getting these..." he looked at what he held and smirked. It began to glow, and in a flash, it was gone; in turn, Forbidramon pulsed with a strange glow for a second, and he smiled again.

The kids stood fast, but the digimon looked away and covered their eyes; it was hard for them to watch.

Simon grit his teeth. "You had to have something to do with-"

"Your little friend going missing?" Forbidramon finished for him, and sounded very mock-offended. "Why, I'm hurt. The insinuation gets me, right here." He patted with his robotic hand over where his heart would have been.

"Don't attack," Julian whispered. "He's just trying to bait us. ... again."

Forbidramon's long, pointed ears perked up, and he grinned. "Clever boy! You're getting savvy! I'll have to change up my methods. ... but more importantly, I've got a job to do."

Forbidramon snapped his fingers, and the dark shape around his neck unfurled. The three yellow eyes of his little minion seemed to materialize out of the dark, but they realized that it was just opening its eyes. (This did not make it any less creepy.)

"Now, Ichimon," the dragon said, inspecting the nails of his monstrous red hand casually, "you know what you're doing, yes?"

"Yes, Forbidramon," the little black creature said, and without another motion it spread its mouth wide. From its mouth was dripping some kind of viscous black bile; with no hesitation, it let out a cry. "**Black Shot**!"

The substance suddenly began to congeal into a blob, accumulating rapidly, until the black little digimon leapt forward, and it was expelled from its mouth, flying straight at Egakumon.

"Holy crap!" the little bunny yelped as it hit him- and threw him tumbling heels-over-head backwards.

"Egakumon!" Simon yelled, running to his partner; Egakumon lifted his head and groaned, wiping the awful substance off his face.

"If that's what my paint feels like, yeesh, I'm just gonna start relying on beating th' crap out of people the old fashioned way," the rabbit groaned; there was a sinister _hissing_ sound coming off of the black gunk, as though it were sizzling away.

"Holy _crap_!" Simon repeated, stumbling backwards; as soon as it was off of his partner's face, where the attack had hit was a nasty purplish-red burn; it looked like some infected, festering wound, according to the human's experience. The rabbit began groaning and whining in pain.

"That thing can't be a normal child-level," Iguamon said, casting a look quickly at Egakumon; Forbidramon began clapping sarcastically.

"Only took you that long to figure that out? Geeze. You're no threat to Lord Era at all!"

"It feels like my face is on fire!" Egakumon whined, pawing desperately at the affected area. Ichimon looked at him, and then at the five remaining digi- wait. Five? It laid eyes on Denimon; it gave a look to Forbidramon, and gestured its head.

The large digimon raised his eyebrow, and a smirk formed on his lips. "Y'got a new one? Geeze, that chick's not gonna be happy you replaced her so soon!" he chuckled, but only for a second. "Fitting. Don't suspect any less of that lunatic's lot..." he muttered, hard to hear.

Regardless, he took a step backwards, as though to remove himself from the situation.

To the surprise of the kids and digimon alike, it was the newcomer, Denimon, who leapt forward first. He reared one hand back, rushing at Ichimon, yelling: "**Abyssal Claw**!"

He struck out with his clawed hand... and did nothing. Ichimon faded into shadows, nothing more than a smoky figure. Denimon stood confused for a second, but not for long. Ichimon rammed its head straight into Denimon's stomach, sending the reptillian digimon sprawling on his back.

"Look at the pretty biyomon," he groaned, waving his arm above his head. Faris quickly ran in and dragged the blue digimon away, out of the line of fire at least.

"Y'er gonna get turned into canned tuna," the green-haired boy muttered, shaking his head.

"Physical attacks aren't going to do anything to it," Iguamon quickly surmised, thrashing his tail in irritation. It was clear why- he couldn't do anything. This didn't seem to stop Delfinimon at all; gathering light in her mouth, she rushed at the black digimon.

"**Blast Bite**!" she cried, and clamped down her jaws into Ichimon's body. Unsurprisingly, her teeth passed through without harming it; however, the light seemed to seep into Ichimon's body. Quickly, their opponent phased into shadow once more, and backed away; however, it hissed. For just a second, the light stayed on its body, and seemed to... burn it, almost.

It did not last long; within perhaps two seconds, the light was overtaken by shadow, and it looked as though Ichimon had been unharmed, as though it had regenerated.

Delfinimon quickly retreated, but she lowered her head and frowned.

"So what do we do?" Lammon asked, frowning. She got her answer quickly; Egakumon leapt closer, holding his brush out.

"**Magic Brush**!" he yelled, holding his brush out with one hand and holding his face with the other. A shining symbol was painted in the air, and flew at Ichimon; the dark digimon didn't have a chance to dodge before it was hit. It tumbled backwards, landing near Forbidramon's feet; it slunk up the dragon's leg, slinking like liquid up to his shoulder.

It began to whisper into Forbidramon's ear; the large digimon's eyes narrowed, but then he chuckled.

"I take it that the fight with Deltamon took it out of you, hmm?" he inquired. "I mean, that's the only reason that you'd not digivolve to adult, yes?"

"No," Simon muttered, clenching his fist; the kids looked at him.

"Simon, it's true, though," Toby said, frowning. "Lammon's the only one who didn't... you know, kind of get the brunt of Deltamon..."

The be-goggled boy shook his head, frowning. "No! It's because even if that thing is... whatever it is, it's not fair, it wouldn't stand a chance against an adult-form digimon!"

Forbidramon raised both eyebrows, smirking. "I take it you're the holder of," and he paused here, making sure that his voice _dripped_ with disdain, "_honor_." He didn't wait for affirmation. "Well, kiddo, those little things are only going to get you so far. Call it want you want, but your lot is too _tired_ to fight."

As though on some horrific cue, there was the noise of crunching through the brush. The group turned to look- but they didn't have to.

The air grew warm and smelled like rotting flesh.

They heard the sound of staggered, rattling breath and crackling fire, and then... a roar.

Towering over the small trees was a great creature. It stood at well over fifteen feet tall; it was built like a centaur, with a human-like torso on top of a quadruped's body, covered with red-violet and cream fur... mostly. There were huge chunks of flesh missing from its upper torso, revealing purplish flesh and cracked, fractured ribs curled around a pulsating orb.

Long belted gloves... boots? Covered its forelegs, while belts were lashed around its hindlegs. A belt was around its midsection, with belts around its neck, and both a necklace and a belt adorned with small skulls hung around where both its torso's neck and what would have been its quadruped neck were. It had no arms, instead with pinkish orbs where it shoulders were. Unnatural purple flames crackled constantly at the top of its tail and out of the back of its head.

None of this is what made them freeze.

What made them freeze was that its face and tail had no flesh at all, made entirely of bone. Huge fangs were bared in a permanent horrible grin, with beady little yellow lights inside of otherwise-empty eye-sockets, staring blankly at the children and their partners.

It roared, and a fresh blast of horrible hot breath and the smell of rotting flesh permeated the area.

The kids' D-GEAR units began to glow.

_Narakamon. Perfect-level Undead digimon. A horrifying digimon, Narakamon is merciless and cannot distinguish friend from foe. It has no insticts aside from to battle, and with not even the faintest survival instinct, it will fight until it literally falls to pieces. Beware its Judgment Fire and Shadow Claw attacks_.

Forbidramon silently took a few more steps back, a smile playing on his face.

Julian spat an obscenity, clenching his hands into fists. "It's perfect-level. We're screwed," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Don't say that, Jules," Faris cut in immediately, trying to hide the fact that he was starting to tremble.

"We got this, yeom!" Delfinimon added, nodding decisively- despite the fact that she wasn't exactly in battle condition after the run-in with Deltamon and all the running.

What they hadn't noticed was a flash of light from very nearby- and then a shape moved past the group, and straight at the giant centaur-like digimon. "**Breaker Blade**!"

What appeared to be Denimon, though taller and equipped with armor (and pants), slashing at the huge digimon's legs with a a guan dao, was now before them.

It had no effect.

The blue digimon growled and leapt back, holding his bladed weapon tightly.

At least a couple of the kids made a mental note to ask how what they assumed was Denimon had reached his adult form again, but he headed them off:

"Wasn't s'posed to degenerate back, there, I think," he said, "and, well, danger lends the digimon the power to get really big again, right? ... name's Marinemon, by the by."

"It's 'fear lends the feet wings'," Iguamon coughed, but he tensed, holding his claw-gloved hands at the ready.

"**Judgment Fire**!" the huge, imposing digimon roared, barely coherent between the rattling breath and aimless hissing it made. It opened its mouth wide, its jaw nearly falling off, and out spewed a river of black and purple flames.

Almost instantly, the kids d-gears sprang to life again. In a flast of light, each of the five partners standing here were replaced with their adult forms, who instantly leapt towards their human compatriots.

The kids threw their arms in front of their faces, but no flames came; were they to look, each of the five would see their digimon shielding them, gritting their teeth as the flames licked at them. The flames lasted perhaps five seconds, but it seemed to last far longer- especially to the digimon taking the brunt of the attack.

"Are you okay!" Toby yelped, looking at the smoky sheep half-curled around him; Ariamon bowed her head, even as she trembled on her feet.

Shokunimon and Kaizokumon were the worst off, having had to all but wrap their entire bodies around their human partners to protect them; Shayumon, protecting Faris, seemed to have fared best, if the fact that the ground around her was now soaked with water was any indication.

Narakamon padded at the ground, treading closer to the group where they stood.

"**Shadow Claw**!" it hissed, and from the orbs at its shoulders, there suddenly sprang forth shadowy arms, segmented and bizarre-looking, almost seeming two-dimensional as they twisted. One of its arms extended out, and grabbed...

Forbidramon.

Ichimon slunk to the ground while Forbidramon was lifted above Narakamon's head, snarling; the strange digimon breathed heavily, while Forbidramon growled, held fast by the shadowy fingers. The five sets of partners hurried, moving just barely outside of the halo of charred dirt.

"It's not an Agent?" Emily whispered, looking at Kaizokumon; the pirate bird stretched out his arms, and set his jaw.

"I don't know, Emily," he admitted, gaze fixed on the scene before them.

"**Dark Wave**!" Forbidramon growled, a blast of dark energy escaping his robotic arm and surging into Narakamon. The skeletal-faced digimon dropped his prey, and Forbidramon fell to the ground.

Forbidramon snarled, and leapt backwards; he didn't seem willing to leave yet, but his focus had changed from the kids to keeping a eye on the new opponent- and avoiding it. Ichimon slid onto his shoulders again, and whispered.

"... Forbidramon's afraid of it," Simon breathed, frowning deeply.

"... we're screwed," Velocimon said simply, flexing his claws.

"No we're not!" Emily snapped back, frowning and shaking her head. "We'll- figure it out!"

"He's not afraid of it," Lammon said suddenly, frowning. "He just didn't want to face anything that could actually get any hit on him."

Suddenly, a twig snapped behind them. The kids turned; Narakamon snarled, beady yellow eyes scanning. For a second, as they turned around, their hearts leapt into their throats...

But it was Marinemon. The aquan digimon had apparently slunk off, and he was gesturing. "C'mon!" he said in a hushed voice, beckoning with his weapon.

There was a pause; the digimon decided that they would stay, the kids would inspect whatever it was they were being shown.

He led them maybe fifteen feet away- not enough for the horrid stench to clear away, and the yells and sounds of battle were all too loud, but they were infinitely glad that Marinemon _had_ left without warning.

"Andrea!" Simon yelled; huddled into a ball of dark hair and red jacket, head on her knees, Andrea indeed was sitting against a nearby tree.

"She looked all weird like you guys, not like any digimon I'd ever seen," Marinemon admitted, shrugging.

"What did you-" Julian said, frozen to the spot, shaking his head. "Are you trying to get killed!" the eldest boy growled, massaging his temple.

"Shut up, Jules," Faris muttered, elbowing his brother hard. Emily crept up closer to the seated girl.

"Andrea!" Emily said, worry clear in her voice; Andrea only at her voice looked up, with an uncharacteristic sort of uncertainty on her face. "What happened?" the younger girl asked, frowning.

* * *

><p><em>"Andrea!" Rajamon said sharply, in a low voice, turning his attention away from the battle with Deltamon. He jerked his head. "Forbidramon went that way!"<em>

_Andrea nodded. She cast a look at the group, fixated on watching their digimon be pummeled into the dust; she looked at Rajamon and nodded again, just once. Quietly, as discreetly as possible, the two broke away from the group, following their persistent (and deeply annoying) enemy into the trees. Only as soon as they were well away did Rajamon digivolve into Baghamon, for Andrea to ride on his back._

_They constantly caught sight of him- always just a burst of purple skin or the tip of his tail, Ichimon curled around his shoulder._

_After perhaps ten minutes, they reached a clearing, where Forbidramon stood, facing the two._

_"You're persistent," Forbidramon remarked, sounding mildly impressed, but the smile on his lips made Andrea and Baghamon distinctly uneasy. "Too bad I'm really not interested in fighting you alone. It's too... easy," he said with a flourish of his hand; Ichimon nodded._

_"Stand and fight for once!" Andrea snapped, clenching her fists and her jaw._

_"Why?" Forbidramon drawled, putting his hands on his hips. "You know I'm going to win. Your little kitty can't even reach Perfect yet. But if you insist!"_

_He smiled nastily all of a sudden._

_"__**Claw Crusher**__!" He quickly extended out his red hand, grabbing Baghamon and lifting, holding him on his hind legs; Andrea tumbled off, landing on the ground with a dull thud. The cat cried out, fire gathering in his mouth and light in the gem, until the red hand tightened; Forbidramon dropped him, then, and Baghamon fell to the ground as well._

_"No," Baghamon snarled, his lip curling back. "I'm not afraid of you," the tiger growled, pushing himself to his feet. "And I never will be."_

_"You don't know when to give up, do you?" Forbidramon said in a mildly amused tone, before he simply grabbed Baghamon by the face. "__**Dark Wave**__!" he declared, and the pulse of energy flowed straight into the cat, who fell to the ground again._

_"No!" Andrea yelled, shaking her head. "We're not going to let him get away!"_

_And with that, she threw herself straight forward at the tall perfect-level._

_She did not notice that her digivice began to glow. It was not like any of the other times thus far hers, or any other, had glowed. The device itself began to rattle- Andrea didn't notice, chalking it up to her own movement._

_She did stop, feet away from Forbidramon, when her D-GEAR began to glow._

_Virtuous Digivolution, be-_

_The voice from her digivice ended like a TV being powered off. Had she looked, she would notice that it, too, completely powered down._

_A blast of... data? Energy? Shot from the device and into Baghamon._

_The tiger let out an unearthly roar that didn't stop as he began to change form. Bones began to spring out of his back. The front part of his body began to shake violently, and there was a horrible cracking noise as it extended into a human-like torso atop his body, like bones breaking and being rearranged far too fast. Orbs formed, snapping into place as flesh ripped away from his new torso. Belts and necklaces appeared, tight enough to cut off circulation._

_First, his tail caught fire; the fur and skin and muscle were gone, instantly, and the flames remained only at the tip of his tail. After that, his entire head burst into purple flames, and he screamed - roared - in agony. The flesh outright melted away from his face as the fire consumed it, leaving only bone, and huge fangs began to grow. The fire remained at the back of his head, crackling with some unknown source at the base of his skull. One small yellow light appeared in each eye. He reared back onto his hind legs, slashing wildly at the air._

_"Narakamon..." he said in a low hiss, breathing out with a rattling soud._

_The beast roared, rearing its head back and snarling. Andrea could feel its hot, putrid breath from where she stood, even as it towered over her._

_"I see y'got a bit of a problem!" Forbidramon's sneering voice drawled from behind; Andrea tightened her fist, instinctively whipping around as though the imposing, skull-faced digimon weren't there._

_"We've got this under control!" the girl snapped. "Rajamon, help me out, here!" But... her voice wavered. She looked up at Narakamon's eyes, and saw nothing._

_"Rajamon!" she yelled again._

_"Get out of here!" Forbidramon yelled suddenly, gritting his teeth. Andrea stared at him - confused wasn't even the word - and he snarled. "Do you want to _die_! GO!" and with that he leapt at the monster. Andrea wasted no time, taking off- but she didn't get far. Perhaps five minutes away she sat down by a tree and had remained there- and hadn't seen her teammates run by not entirely too long afterwards._

* * *

><p>Andrea looked up at Emily, and then at the others. She looked in the direction of where Narakamon now fought against the five digimon, and her breath hitched.<p>

"You guys," she said, trying to sound collected (and failing), "that thing is Rajamon."


	14. Chapter 14: Star Bright

**Author's Note:**

_Early chapter this week so I can focus on family and school stuff that's due at the end of break. Next chapter may or may not be a week late- my _significant other_ is visiting over new-years, and I'd rather not spend my time with him writing fanfiction, arharhar._

_Anywa__y! Huuuuge thanks to my first reviewer here on eff-eff-dot-net, which makes me far happier than it maybe should._

* * *

><p>"You've got to be kidding me," Simon muttered, looking over his shoulder. Entirely too close-by, Narakamon's rattling roar split the air, punctuated with yells of pain from the five adult digimon fighting the hopeless battle against it. A pang hit him- the digimon had no idea that they were fighting their comrade. Oh, a horrific digivolution of their comrade, but their comrade nonetheless.<p>

"**Paint Blast**!"

The sound of a yelp and the rustling of leaves.

"**Smokescreen**!"

A roar and a rebuttal of a horrible voice, replying "Shadow Claw!" in a low hiss.

"**Flintlock Shock**!"

A sound like rocks being dropped into a deep well- laughter?

"You guys, no rush," Julian cut in, "but I'm getting the feeling that there might be a slight problem."

"_Slight_?" Andrea spat from where she sat, an incredulous expression on her face. She was in _no mood_, it seemed.

Emily tossed a look over her shoulder, and she furrowed her brow. There was absolutely no part of this that boded well. She looked through the thin trees to where their digimon held Narakamon at bay, and at the still-seated-on-the-ground Andrea. The younger girl worried her bottom lip with her teeth. "Uh... what can we...?"

"Panic?" Faris suggested; he was shut up by a sharp look from his older brother.

There was a moment's pause. Then, with a sudden commanding tone, Julian spoke up: "Marinemon, can you keep Andrea from getting herself killed?"

The blue digimon blinked, but nodded and then saluted with his weapon; Toby muttered something along the lines of 'um, please watch where you're swinging that?', but it went unnoticed. "Blue ranger, at your service!"

Marinemon knelt down, and grabbed one of Andrea's arms to drape it around his shoulders. "Can't leave a pretty lady unaided!" he quipped; the dark girl raised an eyebrow.

"I... have no idea who you are," she said bluntly. "And more than that, I'm fourteen. ... and you're a fish-lizard monster." That last bit oozed an ironic tone, but a sort of unease permeated as she spoke. She was visibly shaken, but she still had room in her for snide comments.

"Hang back or... something, stand on the sidelines," Simon continued where Julian had left off, looking at Marinemon and Andrea. "The rest of you, c'mon."

"No offense," Toby said quietly, frowning, "but uhm, what exactly can we do? That thing... I mean, Rajamon like that- he could crush us with one of his feet."

"... make it up as we go?" Simon provided with a very half-hearted, nervous smile.

Though it didn't dissuade anyone's fears, the group - the five kids leading the way in an unruly mob, with Marinemon and Andrea after - carefully, so gingerly, stepped back towards the battle site.

It did not look good, to be particularly generous.

In the short time they had been away: Shokunimon had gotten himself knocked into a tree, and Ariamon was kneeling on the ground looking as though she were having trouble breathing. In front of them, with Narakamon facing them (and thus with his back to the kids), Kaizokumon, Velocimon, and Shayumon all stood their ground resiliently, breathing heavy and looking worse for the wear.

Simon clenched his hand into a fist, looking up at the back of Narakamon's head. "... is that really Rajamon's perfect level?" he muttered.

Toby looked up at him, and frowned a bit. "I... don't think it is," the small boy said. "Or, I mean to say- I hope it isn't."

"Uplifting," Julian said, sighing and shaking his head. "So what do we do? It's five against one, and we're horribly outclassed."

There was a pause.

"Not quite," Toby said quietly; pointing. The kids (and Marinemon) followed his finger's path; what they saw was caused mixed reactions at best.

"**Dark Shot**!" hissed a familiar, but different voice. Pacing around in the clearing, a quadrupedial beast perhaps three times the size of the average horse; tall and bony, scarily thin, not moving like a normal creature. Bandages were wrapped around its face and forelimbs, with additional shackles on its fore- and chains around its hind-limbs. One giant yellow eye was fixed in the middle of its chest, and its tail faded into pale yellow flames near the tip. Black ichor drpped from the bandages on its face.

At the moment, it was rearing back and, despite the binding, forcing its mouth open to fire a blob of the horrid black substance at Narakamon.

"... Forbidramon's little helper," Julian (correctly) surmised as Narakamon seemed took a step backward after the digimon's attack, but seemed unharmed, even as the substance began to eat away the flesh.

"It doesn't change its attacks when it changes forms," Simon remarked, but inwardly he was trying his best to explain what on earth it was that would drive the black digimon to join the fight. He looked around. There, standing half-hidden in the trees to the side, was Forbidramon, who stood, watching impassively with arms folded, was Forbidramon.

Oh, yeah. He was still around, wasn't he?

"Okay, _six_ against one, and one of them is evil and probably overpowered," Julian ammended, massaging his temples, "and we're still screwed."

As if to prove his point, Velocimon threw himself into a mad dash at the part of Narakamon's leg that had been struck by Forbidramon's helper (though unknown to the kids, now by the name of Nimon), putting his head down. "**Fast Strike**!"

"**Judgment Fire**!" Narakamon snarled; though Velocimon was too quick to be caught in it before he hit, Narakamon simply adjusted, taking a step back and releasing the flood of flames straight on the dinosaur's head.

Velocimon let out something remarkably akin to "ggyahah!", holding his head down and throwing his arms up as though to proect himself. Slowly, he began to glow, until-

"**Wavebreak Crash**!" Shayumon yelled, and threw herself into the line of fire in front of Velocimon, growling, propelled by a jet of water- and she had projected herself to leap over her teammate, splashing him with cooling water. The glow began to fade from Velocimon, leaving his form intact, but still looking incredibly battered.

"Run!" the shark yelled to Velocimon, and in fact all of her teammates; they needed no second bidding. The two - and followed quickly by Ariamon and Kaizokumon - moved as fast as they could over to where the children stood. Thankfully, their enemy seemed focused on Nimon for the time being.

"I don't know what's happenin', kids," Kaizokumon said, breathing heavy. Shokunimon finally freed himself from the tree, and dropped down not far from the kids. "We cannae make a scratch on him, and that black thing is helpin' us," the pirate bird continued, rubbing his arm gingerly.

"We have to wait until he runs out of energy," Ariamon said, grunting a little bit before she began to glow, returning to Lammon in an instant; Toby took no time in rushing over and kneeling beside her.

"We can't!" Andrea yelled suddenly, shaking her head. "Who knows how long that could take?" she explained, shaking a bit. "And it - my D-GEAR- when he... digivolved, it said he'd fight until he fell apart. And what if that wacko Forbidramon-" Andrea paused- she was... confused. She hadn't told them that Forbidramon had helped, but she remained suspicious of their antagonist.

"Well we can't fight him!" Emily said urgently, splaying her hands out. "We're gonna get creamed!"

"The best thing to do would be just to clear out," Julian agreed, quietly, as Velocimon degenerated to Iguamon, "before anyone else gets hurt."

There was a murmur of agreement through digimon and humans, the digimon one-by-one degenerating to their child forms- until Simon spoke up.

"No," he said simply, adjusting his goggles.

"This is some hero-boy complex, isn't it?" Julian asked, raising his eyebrows.

Simon smiled and nodded once. "'Course it is. We're not going to leave a teammate behind!"

Andrea laughed, a little bitterly. "Can't believe I'm going to agree with you on that 'gotta help everyone' thing. ... just once."

Shokunimon smiled, pumping his paint-brush holding fist into the air. "We're Virtue Recievers! We gotta stick together and help our kin, and... stuff like that!"

The other digimon paused, but looked at the rabbit and then- one by one - nodded.

With that, the pair of rabbit and kid... up and ran head-first back into the clearing, side by side.

"He's kind of a fruit-loop, isn't he?" Marinemon asked, looking around; Andrea nodded.

Nimon was carefully dancing around Narakamon's attacks- until the taur-like digimon snarled out a "**Shadow Claw**!" He swung his arm down into Nimon, and though it faded temporarily into shadows to avoid it, it had no effect- the ghostly hand grabbed Nimon around the bulk of its body, and lifted it into the air. Holding Narakamon up above its head, Nimon's one giant eye stared into the unmoving bony face of its attacker as a flame began to grow in his mouth.

"**Tumble Kick**!" Shokunimon yelled, suddenly- on top of Narakamon's quadrupedial back, smashing his foot into where his torso and tiger-like body connected.

Narakamon roared and thrashed, its shadowy hand vanishing; Nimon turned to shadows as soon as it was released, and reappeared on the ground, watching impassively.

Unseen to all, Forbidramon raised an eyebrow, smirking a little bit as Simon, himself, ran up in front of Narakamon, holding his arms out wide.

"Fight something your own size for once!" the boy yelled- a cliche line, no doubt, but it caught Narakamon's attention.

Beady yellow eyes stared down at Simon, and a mighty rattling roar escaped Narkamon's skeletal mouth. The humid, putrid breath washed over the boy, and even filled with a deep nausea at the smell, he stood fast.

"I don't know what it is about the digimon we keep fighting," Simon said, loudly, seemingly speaking to his enemy despite a knowledge that his words probably went in one ear and out the other, "but every time, someone gets outmatched. Adult-levels keep picking on child-levels, and now we've got a perfect-level that can smash our partners into the dust.

Simon paused, breathing heavily... and then smiled.

"So I think it's time we start fighting fair."

Almost instantly as he said that, his D-GEAR burst into light, and it began to vibrate- like china dishes as a train careened by - as though the energy were too much for it to handle. A blazing insigia of the virtue of honor shone through the light, bright-red in the blinding white of the rest of the emitted light.

Shokunimon jumped off of Narakamon's back, tensing his body. The second he touched ground, the D-GEAR began to rattle harder, until it erupted. Not into a beam of light, as before, but like a giant starburst of energy surging forth from the device. Shokunimon was bathed in it, and was immediately bathed in red light. The virtue's symbol shot like a beam of light at the rabbit, and sunk into his chest, glowing bright white.

There was a small voice from Simon's D-GEAR.

_**Virtuous Digivolution, begin**_.

"Shokunimon, virtuous digivolve to..."

Through the red light, they could see Shokunimon change. His white fur tunring black, the rabbit grew in size; his body stretched until he was almost ten feet tall. His ears and tail lengthened; the long fur on his hands smoothed down. A mass of shaggy hair grew on the back of his head, tied back as if in a ponytail. Metal armor snapped into place on his chest and on his legs, with metal rings around the near-tip of his tail. The bandana around his neck was ripped to shreds, and in its place, a long flowing scarf appeared. His paintbrush, too, changed- it grew more than proportionally. Gripped in one hand and held up straight, it was almost as tall as he was.

Finally, a metal visor snapped into place, covering his eyes; the virtue emblem shining on his chest faded away, and the red light drained away as well. He whipped his paintbrush around as though it were a sword, and all but posed with it, before he announced at last:

"**StarShokunimon**!"

While it was true that he - StarShokunimon - was still massively dwarfed in comparison to the giant Narakamon, it was hard to deny that there seemed to be a change in the chemistry of the battle, just in the air.

Simon scrambled out of the way as fast as possible, running towards the other kids post-haste. If they were saying anything (and they were) it was totally lost on his ears- he heard nothing but the unfolding of the scene in front of them.

"Rajamon!" StarShokunimon yelled. "You've been attacking your friends. I don't want to fight you- but I know this isn't you!"

Narakamon let out a mighty roar, and yelled: "**Judgement Fire**!"

The torrent of fire spilt from his mouth, right down at StarShokunimon; in that moment, however, StarShokunimon kicked the ground hard, leaping high, high into the air. He all but soared upwards, and then, at the zenith of his leap, he yelled out an attack of his own.

"**Astral Bolt**!"

His feet glowing with data, StarShokunimon fell back down feet-first, faster than he should have descended; with a mighty force, he smashed into Narakamon's skeletal head. There was a deep crunching sound- for once, something had damaged Narakamon.

The tiger roared and bucked his head, sending StarShokunimon flying- but as though he had planned it, StarShokunimon managed to land with moderate grace back in the dust.

"Listen to me!" the rabbit bellowed, gripping his painbrush tightly- and then he whipped his hands apart. To the surprise of onlookers, the wooden part of the brush slid away with ease. It was a scabbard- pulling it away revealed a long, shining-silver sword, the brush end of the weapon serving as an unconventional pommel.

He threw the case away, and he swung the sword dramatically, before he rushed at Narakamon with a little jump.

"**Starlight Blade**!" he yelled, and the sword began to glow as he swung it hard, slashing him across the belly of his torso.

Narakamon snarled, and as StarShokunimon backed away, he suddenly pounced forward, tackling the rabbit, pinning his former teammate down with his front paws.

"**Judgment Fire**!" Narakamon bellowed, and let loose the fire once more; StarShokunimon, though he struggled, was unable to wrench his way away.

While the rabbit could hardly be said to come out of the attack unscathed - indeed, he cried out in pain until the fire subsided, he gritted his teeth and let loose a third attack.

"**Screeching Howl**!" he yelled, opened his mouth wide- and began to screech. The kids and their partners whipped their hands over their ears, as the noise began to shake the branches on the trees; if they looked, they would see actual concentric circles escaping the rabbit's mouth, like cartoony sound waves. Narakamon screeched, a sound like a rusty rake on a chalkboard, and stumbled backwards, thrashing wildly.

"One last move," StarShokunimon remarked to nobody, and gripped his sword tightly.

Before he could move, however, Narakamon hissed: "**Shadow Claw**!" The shadowy arms materialized again from the orbs near his shoulders, and with both spectral limbs he grabbed StarShokunimon. The monster lifted the rabbit into the air, breathing heavily, each puff of air a putrid cloud of steam. The hands began to glow, and StarShokunimon began to yell in pain.

"Egakumon!" Simon yelled from the sidelines, looking up at the scene unfolding. Though his perfect-level partner's eyes were hidden by the metal visor, StarShokunimon turned his head to look at Simon, and smiled. He gripped his sword tight, even as it was trapped, like the rest, in Narakamon's shadowy hands; it began to glow.

"**Starlight Blade**!" he called, and jerked his entire body forward; the glowing sword sliced straight through the spectral hands, leaving them to evaporate like wisps of smoke, and he propelled himself straight into Narakamon's skull. The sword hit true- straight in the center of the skeletal head, lengthwise. There was a loud 'clang' noise.

Narakamon roared, and collapsed onto the ground, falling onto his side.

Before anyone knew what was happening, Andrea wrenched herself free of Marinemon and ran forward. Dwarfed even by the size of her mutated partner's skull, before she could be stopped, she placed her hands on the bone, and rested her head on Narakamon's.

Though it wasn't audible, not even visible that she was speaking to the others, she whispered:

"I'm sorry, Rajamon."

Narakmon made a strange noise, and then... his body began to smoke.

A curious purple misty smoke started at his feet, and began to engulf his entire body, spiralling upwards. Narakamon reared his head back and roared as the smoke reached his torso, creeping up up to his neck; there was a flare of the fire on his head, before the smoke suddenly dissolved into purple light, and Andrea backed away only a half-step. The light pulsed, growing brighter and brighter, until at last, it turned white.

The light all but exploded- a thousand drifting orbs of light scattered away like motes on the wind. Narakamon was no more.

In its monstrous place, on the ground, was a small furry shape in the dirt near Andrea. A little ball of red fur, smaller even than it had been when the kids first met their digimon; large rounded ears were on either side of its face, with black stripes up around its closed-tight large black eyes. It trembled. There was a plume of fluff on the top of its head, but it was otherwise nigh-featureless.

Andrea fell to her knees and scooped the little digimon up, and it cracked one eye open.

The other five kids and their digimon (and Marinemon) stood back, in silence. StarShokunimon still stood where he had ended the battle, a ways away from Andrea but still in the center of the clearing.

"You okay?" Andrea said quietly, cradling the little red digimon gently.

Her tiny charge smiled and nodded his entire body. Andrea smiled, standing up.

"That..." Faris said, after perhaps a ten-second silence, and gave a low whistle.

"Was intense, yeom," Delfinimon provided; Faris nodded in assent. It was then that StarShokunimon and the little-digimon-towing Andrea began to walk back to the group.

"Are you okay?" Lammon asked almost-immediately, looking between them.

StarShokunimon smiled and nodded, then turned his head to the older girl and her partner.

"Just great," Andrea said, and then indicated the little red digimon with her head. "... meet Sinjmon," she said a bit awkwardly.

"Been a while since we've seen him like that," Kamomon remarked, putting his hands behind his head and smiling wryly.

StarShokunimon, then, suddenly erupted into light- and in a second's time, he was back to Egakumon. "Awww... can't remain Perfect-level for too long," he lamented, smiling. Then, however, a thought came to him.

"Waitaminute. Where did Forbidramon and whatsisguts go?"

They looked around, and, indeed- neither the strange black digimon nor the sneering dragon were anywhere to be found.

"I think I saw him ride away on Nimon," Lammon pointed out- and then quickly explained what she meant by 'Nimon' (the digimon, after all, had been around for its digivolution, and had heard its name even when they were having the snot beat out of them).

The group remained skeptical at best, but were in no mood to doubt it at the moment- yet.

"... I think we deserve to actually rest for the night, now," Emily said, suddenly, looking around. It was true- they were just about to settle down when this series of events had started. They were in as good a place as any...

"I'd love to stay," Marinemon said cheerfully, gesturing wildly with his staff weapon, "but I've best be going off, yes?"

"... oh, yeah!" Simon said, chuckling, and smiled. "Thanks for your help, man," he said, holding out a hand; the blue digimon grinned and shook it.

"Well... hey, I ain't Era's biggest fanboy either!" he said. The kids and digimon bid him goodbye, and with that, he turned tail and was gone.

"... what a fruit-loop," Andrea muttered.

* * *

><p>The kids, milling amongst themselves, eventaully set up another makeshift camp; being enterprising, Iguamon and Julian suggested that they use some of the felled logs from the battle to use as seats around a little fire. With Rajamon currently entirely too small and non-fire-powered to do much, it had to be done manually. (This, of course, meant it took a substantial amount of time to get it going.)<p>

Some time afterwards, they eventually settled down; in fact, most of them flopped down and seemed reluctant to move after they had seated down. They began to chatter- the digimon asked Egakumon incessant questions about his reaching Perfect level, just for starters.

The entire time, Andrea had remained remarkably quiet. However, a while after they had settled down and began to relax, she finally spoke up.

"You guys," she said, leaning forward, even with Sinjmon on her lap. "When... well, when Rajamon first digivolved into Narakamon," she said, averting her eyes to the side, "something... kinda weird happened."

"You mean your partner turning into a giant killer skeleton-monster?" Faris suggested; Andrea gave him a glare that could kill. He quickly mouthed 'sorry', his face turning red, and motioned for her to continue.

"I mean..." she paused, and shook her head. "Forbidramon helped me out. Or at least, he distracted Narakamon to let me get away."

There was a murmur throughout the group; Emily was the first to speak up. "But... he's, y'know, evil!"

"He eats digicores!" Kamomon blurted, fluffing up the feathers on his chest and looking horribly offended by the very thought- in fact, all of the digimon did at the mention. Even Sinjmon growled a little bit.

Andrea frowned. "Like I don't know that. I don't think he was being some hero all of a sudden," she ammended quickly, but she furrowed her brow. "I'm just... wondering why."

There was a pause, as they thought. To the surprise of many, it was actually Delfinimon that spoke next.

"Maybe..." she said, tapping one fin on her chin, "it was because Narakamon's not... with Era, yeom?" the dolphin tried. Eyebrows were raised and looks were exchanged.

"He doesn't want someone that isn't part of the Era Corps doing the job?" Iguamon pitched, thinking hard. "... but that doesn't make any sense."

"I know what to do," Egakumon said, putting one claw in the air. The others looked at him, and he said definitively: "We call Deekamon!"

Little Sinjmon groaned, but even so, the kids reached for their D-GEAR units- and realized they had no idea how to initiate a call.

Perhaps thirty seconds of aimless button-pressing later, it seemed that Simon hit the button- all of them erupted into light, and a familiar voice crackled through.

"Hey, you finally learned how to use it! Sweet."

"Deeka!" Egakumon yelled, grinning. "I digivolved to Perfect!"

Sinjmon looked up at Andrea, and whispered: "I get the feeling that's why he wanted to talk to Deekamon."

"Excellent!" Deekamon said regardless, and they could almost see that grinning cat-hoodie-wearing weirdo spreading his arms wide. "I take it you learned to use the Virtues?"

"... not quite," Emily said, looking at Andrea and smiling a little bit. "We're... still working on that. But Simon got his to work."

"Well... you can't force them," Deekamon mused. Andrea pointedly said nothing. "I'm sure you'll all be fine, though, yes? One step closer, and all that..." And suddenly, he abruptly changed the subject. "Any luck at all on the Seventh Child front?" he asked.

Lammon, then, replied: "Not at all," she admitted, shaking her head.

"Not for lack of trying, of course!" Kamomon piped up.

It was only then that Toby said, "We actually called, becuase... we had a question."


	15. Chapter 15: Shocking!

Author's Note: _Wah, sorry this took so long! Real life and all. Should go back to normal schedule from here on, but here, have my apologies with the longest chapter yet._

* * *

><p>The kids had placed their D-GEAR units down on the ground, in a cluster, and they sat tight close around them. Andrea kept Sinjmon on her lap, while the other digimon lay alongside their human partners. Together, speaking over eachother, they told what had transpired since last they had talked (which had been, they realized, during the week-long Forbidramon drought), stopping suspiciously short of Narakamon's involvement.<p>

"Well!" Deekamon said, having stayed _uncharacteristically_ quiet while the children talked. "It seems as though you've had, err, quite the experience thus far."

"That's one way to put it," Toby said, shrugging one shoulder. "But that's not exactly what we wanted to ask you, I don't think. Or... tell you about, or..."

"Talk about," Lammon provided gently, looking at her partner's D-GEAR in the pile and then up at Toby himself. He smiled and nodded once.

"Oh?" Deekamon's voice crackled over the device.  
>The group at large looked at Andrea. She had remained remarkably close-mouthed the entire time, sitting back and leaning on her hands, looking anywhere but at the others. Slowly, she lowered her eyes to meet them.<p>

"Rajamon digivolved past Baghamon," she said slowly, carefully. There was a pause, and it fell silent. All gathered could hear the leaves rustling around them. She placed a hand on the small Sinjmon, and breathed out heavily. "Except I don't think he was supposed to do that."

Deekamon, to the surprise of everyone - even the digimon - chuckled.

"I almost-" Sinjmon piped up, bouncing his entire body up and down in his partner's lap.

"Why are you laughing?" Iguamon said in an even tone. Barely perceptibly, his scaly eyebrows were raised just slightly.

"I don't mean to make light of the situation, of course," Deekamon replied - they could just imagine him waving his hand dismissively. "But I can't say I didn't expect it."  
>Human and digimon alike exchanged confused looks. However, what really got a reaction was what Deekamon said next:<br>"I'm particularly not-surprise that it was Rajamon, actually..."

At this, the little Sinjmon puffed up- and promptly fell off of Andrea's lap, landing face-first in the dirt as the girl stood up, clenching her fists. "What is that supposed to mean!" she demanded, knitting her eyebrows.

"Sit down, yeom?" Delfinimon tried, lolloping over and using her snout to tip Sinjmon back upright.

Deekamon chuckled again; they could almost see the veins popping in Andrea's forehead. "You are both very volatile, and your Virtue is easy to... abuse," the purple digimon explained, still with a tinge of amusement in his voice.

"What does that mean?" Simon piped up, his eyebrows shooting up.

There was another short pause, as Deekamon thought. "Virtues... are not simply tools that provide power when you need them," he said, choosing his words carefully. The digimon, particularly, looked at eachother in confusion; they had never been told, apparently.  
>"I assume that Wisemon told you that the Virtues were created for each of you specifically?" When he recieved a noise of assent, he continued. "The Sovereigns used Yggdrasil to create things of great power, to allow your digimon to grow beyond their natural peremeters. For this, they had to allow your digimon to recieve data, you-could-say, <em>directly from the source<em>."

Deekamon took a breath.  
>"Very rarely is new data created. All data comes from, returns to, and passes through Yggdrasil. Your Virtues are comprised of the tiniest fragment - a leaf, if you will - of Yggdrasil itself."<p>

"... really?" Kamomon piped up, blinking a couple times and looking at Emily, and then at her D-GEAR.

"But then what does this have to do with Narakamon?" Julian said, his face a blank.

"I'm getting to it!" Deekamon replied huffily. "Because they are made of Yggdrasil, they are... alive, in a sense. They're not inanimate tools. They activate in conjuction with their holders." Another dramatic pause. "If their holder uses their virtue in the wrong way, it will sense it."

The hoodied digimon waited, now. Andrea looked to the side, picking up Sinjmon. "... and I ran in against Forbidramon, like an idiot," she said, an unfamiliar tone of dejection in her words.

"I assume you were reckless," Deekamon corrected. "Because you activated your virtue through recklessnes and not bravery, the virtue was tainted. The data passing through your Virtue became tainted, and so, by it, your digimon followed suit."

"Wait, wait, wait," Emily said, sitting forward, an expression of worry marring her face. "Does that mean that any of us could-?"

"Yes," Deekamon cut her off.

Egakumon paused, looking up at Simon, but speaking to the D-GEAR. "So... then what...?"

Deekamon chuckled again. "You want to know what behavior will lead to the wrongful activation of your virtues, don't you?"

"Uhhh, yeah?" Faris replied, smiling a little bit.

"I can't tell you that," Deekamon replied airily. Before they could vocalize their frustration, he continued: "Primarily becuase I do not know."  
>The group at large <em>groaned<em>.  
>"All I can say is do not try to force it," the mentor digimon continued over their sound of frustration. And then, suddenly, there was a beeping noise- the lights on their D-GEAR units shut down. Communications had stopped.<p>

"He's so _useless_ sometimes," Sinjmon grumbled.

"You know what's worse, though?" Faris spoke up, and a little smile played on his lips. They looked at him, and he picked up his D-GEAR from the pile. "We didn't get to ask him about Forbidramon."

* * *

><p>The group at large, still frustrated with the bizarre ways of Deekamon, couldn't find it in themselves to complain- they were entirely too tired to do so. Huddled around the trees, some with knees pulled up to their chests, the kids fell asleep quickly.<br>Note that it is said the kids fell asleep quickly; the digimon did less so.

Sitting up around the lingering embers of the fire, the six digimon sat up on the logs.  
>"I almost killed the lot of you!" Sinjmon exclaimed in a loud whisper, bouncing up and down.<p>

"But you didn't, yeom," Delfinimon replied nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders. "And besides, most of us weren't even, like, _three-quarters_ of the way to dying. _Half_way, maybe." The dolphin paused, and noticed that her fellows were giving her the most curious look. She grinned. "I mean, we're cool, brah, yeom," she finished, nodding once with a smile.

"After all," Lammon continued, "we know it wasn't you acting. Even if you're not always perfectly fond of all of us," and the little sheep looked at Egakumon, who grinned lopsidedly, "you'd never try to hurt us."

"Yeah!" the rabbit chimed in. "We're, like, brothers! All of us!"  
>Lammon and Delfinimon both looked at him. "... errr," Egakumon added, "and sisters."<p>

There was a moment of silence; Sinjmon smiled. Iguamon was the first one to break it.

"That's all well and good... but we we need to determine how to proceed from here," the little dinosaur said, sitting up straight.

"About...?" Kamomon asked, shifting in his seat.

* * *

><p>Daylight broke the next day, as expected. Not a single cloud hung overhead, leaving anyone awake to gaze up at a perfect blue sky. If they weren't in the middle of the... well, <em>events<em> that they found themselves in, it would have been a beautiful, relaxing day.

Delfinimon lay on the ground near Faris as he awoke. She, herself, was half-asleep, but she looked up at her partner and yawned serenely. A quick look around the little camp revealed that they were as of yet the only ones to be awake.  
>"If I had a felt-tip we could draw mustaches on everyone's faces," Faris remarked to the little dolphin alongside him, who grinned and chuckled.<p>

"Well, I've got a paintbrush," said a third entity, Egakumon, popping his head around the tree against which Faris was leaning. Said boy nearly leapt a foot into the air, until he whipped his head around, peering around the trunk.

"G'morning!" Simon greeted with a wave of his hand; he and Egakumon were standing there.

"Th'heck you doing? You trying to pull an Andrea and get your bunny-rabbit to turn into a giant skeleton-monster, too?" Faris replied in a rushed, hushed voice, raising an eyebrow. Despite his words, a smile played at his lips.

"Yeah, man," Delfinimon added, looking at Egakumon and still smiling, "you've already reached Perfect. Stop being such a show-off, yeom."

Simon put his arms akimbo, and huffed. "Naw. We're just trying to find where the next of those whatchamacallits-"

"Proxy Areas," Egakumon provided.

"Yeah, those! ... are," Simon continued with a gesture of his hand. "Egakumon said that he and the other digimon were talking about that last night." Delfinimon and Egakumon both nodded.

Faris put a finger to his chin. He nodded with understanding, and then said, "So you figured you'd try to see if it's anywhere around here, yeah?"

"Something like that," Egakumon said.

Delfinimon hopped up and splayed herself across Faris' lap. (This knocked the wind out of him temporarily, but he placed a hand on her head-fin and took it in stride.) "Any progress, yeom?" she asked, tilting her head.

Egakumon and Simon exchanged glances. From both rabbit and boy: "Uhh..."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Faris said, smirking and rolling his eyes. He stood up, sending Delfinimon tumbling off of his lap. The little cetacean groaned out a little 'ow', lying with her back in the dirt. (Faris could imagine a circle of little cartoony Loromon circling around her head, chirping.)  
>"Aw, get up, 'ya big tuna," the boy chided, and Delfinimon rolled over onto her stomach. She stuck her tongue out; Faris responded in kind before looking back at Simon.<p>

"Don't suppose we could help, huh?" he said.

Simon's eyebrows shot up, and the be-goggled de-facto leader grinned. "Heck, sure. We've been at this for a couple hours now, so..."

"Geeze," the younger boy replied, letting loose a low whistle. "When'd'ya find time to sleep?"

"Green rangers on duty, yeom!" Delfinimon chirrupped, rearing back and splaying her arms out wide.  
>Simon, Egakumon, and Faris all looked at her quizically; she didn't notice, and carried on.<p>

"Or, uh-errrr, Blue-Green rangers. Aqua rangers. ... Mint rangers! Teal? ... No, I've got it!

"_Sea-green_ rangers!"

Faris _groaned_ and buried his head in his hands.

* * *

><p>"What was with that green ranger thing?" Faris asked as he and his partner tromped through the underbrush. Simon had filled them in on where they hadn't checked out yet, and they had set off. '<em>If the others wake up and I'm not there, tell them I got eaten by monsters,<em>' Faris had said as they walked away.

"That blue guy said he was the _blue ranger_, member?" she explained cheerfully. "It sounded neat. ... and it was _Sea-Green Rangers_, Fare. Get it right." Delfinimon smirked.

"Okay, okay, my bad," her partner responded, throwing his hands up in defeat. He cast a look around them. They were in the midst of a thick patch of trees; they couldn't see a thing above them, covered by the canopy of trees.  
>"Almost looks kinda rainforesty in here, huh?" Faris remarked, putting his hands in his pockets.<p>

Delfinimon looked up, and sniffed at the air. "Doesn't smell like it, though," she remarked, sticking her tongue out again- this time in distaste.

Faris gave her a sort of confused look, but then took a whiff, himself. It was a faint smell, hidden by the salty air from the not-far ocean and the damp leaves and grass around them. He assumed, thus, that it was stronger for the digimon- perhaps she had a keener nose than he. And yet, the second after it hit his nostrils, the pungent aroma grew exponentially stronger, second after second, until it was the only thing Faris could smell.

It was not a pleasant smell by any means. It was acrid and sharp, but it had a stale quality at the same time. It brought to mind images of toxic chemicals and burning tires; gasoline gone bad mixed with whatever it would smell like if metal could rot.

"... Better get right on bottling up and selling that as perfume," Faris couldn't help but say, even as he made a face and covered his nose and mouth with his hands.

"Eau de _Putrid Death_, yeom," Delfinimon concurred as she, herself, clapped her fins right over her snout to cover up her nostrils.

The question of the day was: what was it that brought that lovely aroma about?  
>With breath held, the duo trudged carefully through a thick expanse of trees, and they got their answer. It had been obscured by the vegetation standing between them and it. They had spilled out of the trees, and the ocean spread before them once more- but standing between them and the water was an architectural nightmare.<p>

It was a greyish building, with exposed pipes and machinery at every turn, exposed cogs on the exterior of the building slowly grinding to life. Puffs of greenish haze were beginning to make their way out of a few lonely smokestacks- and every time a new cloud erupted out, the putrid smell was renewed in full force.

"Lifetime's worth of Terrafruit says this is an Era factory, yeom," Delfinimon remarked, though she sounded congested. Faris looked at her- once more she had clamped her hands over her nostrils.

"If I took you up on that bet," her partner replied, holding his own nose shut, "I would lose. ... plus, and half of them would taste pretty weird, so I'm not sure I'd want it anyway." He (gingerly) took another step closer to the factory building. "... must just be starting up for the morning," he reasoned. He let loose a deep sigh, and looked at Delfinimon.  
>"Think there's anything here worth looking at?"<p>

The little dolphin frowned and furrowed her brow. She lolloped forward, just barely into the scrubby sand, and twitched her big tailfin.  
>"I think," she said after a moment of silence and trepidation, looking over her shoulder to look up at Faris, "it's here."<p>

"Wha?" the boy asked, blinking, and then: "Oh, the... thing... Proxy Area?"  
>Delfinimon nodded once.<p>

"I can feel it, yeom. Feels like data getting changed around."

Faris grinned. "So, like... a sixth sense? _Rockin'_," he chuckled. "But you're sure it's not just..." he jerked a thumb at the factory. Delfinimon nodded again.

"Positive," she said decisively.

Faris sighed, and shook his head. "Fine. Let's get a better look before we go back and call in the cavalry, just... y'know, to make sure."  
>Truth be told, he was kind of interested in what a digital world factory would entail- even if it did produce the worst smell it had ever been his displeasure to encounter. He wanted to get a look, just for a moment, before they had to rampage through with the full group.<p>

Not a thing passed by Delfinimon's attention. Faris looked at her; she smirked. "You just wanna check it out, yeom." The boy grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. Before he could speak, the aquatic digimon dragged herself further into the sand, towards the factory building.  
>"Well then, c'mon! I mean, far be it from me to say stop draggin' your feet," and she, with a concentrated effort, picked herself up onto her hands, and waved her bulky lower half, pointedly devoid of feet, in the air for emphasis. She immediately fell back down to the sand with a little <em>flump<em> sound, "but stop draggin' your feet, yeom!"

"Well... I mean, we could also try to find the proxy area entrance, too. If it's here, I mean..." the boy continued, and put his hands on his hips. He looked at the building in front of them, and chewed on his lip for a second. "You know, every movie I've ever seen says that going in there will get me killed."

"Still goin' in, yeom?" Delfinimon said with a sly sideways look.

"No duh."

With that, they carefully circled around to the front of the structure; it was a bit of a jaunt, really, for it was quite a sizable building. It looked almost the same from all sides (or at least from the back, front, and one side): a mess of tubes and gears and shafts all in a uniform, unpleasant brownish-grey, surrounded by a high chain-link fence. When they had reached the front, the only reason they had to suspect as such was that amidst the mechanical mess, there was a break in the fence; beyond that, a goodly-sized door on the building itself, blackened as though the metal had been scorched.  
>Best of all, both was wide open.<p>

The boy hoisted the dolphin into his arms. The dolphin nodded, with an almost comically-determined look (and smirk) on her face. Both took a deep breath, and Faris took those heavy steps towards and through the door.

To their great relief, the smell vanished the moment they crossed the threshhold. It was surprisingly well-lit; they entered a sort of entrance-hall of sorts, made entirely of shiny, presumably fresh-polished metal.

However, they lost the smell but gained a new grievance: it was loud. _Really_ loud. The sounds of grinding metal on metal, steam whistling its way out of vents, conveyor belts whiring; all of these came together in a cacophonic medley.  
>The sound grew in intensity as they (or, Faris holding Delfinimon) pressed gingerly forward.<p>

"Freakin' surreal," he muttered, turning his back at an angle as they approached a door at the end of the small hallway. He pushed down on the handle with his elbow, and pushed it open with his shoulder.

He caught a fleeting glance of a room full of technology of every sort- gears turning and pistons whirring alongside computer-screens flickering, all in a dimly-lit mess of a room. All of a sudden, it seemed to have turned on its side and was oriented with a vertical floor to which Faris, Delfinimon still in arms, was still drawn to.

Oh. Wait. It was all oriented just fine; it was just that they had been laid out, quickly, by a blunt force, though no pain registered. Even more curiously, they weren't being held down; they had simply been knocked down. Faris used his elbows to hoist himself to a sitting position.

"There's a nice welcome for you, yeom," Delfinimon groaned.

Faris smiled at her, then turned his head. Immediately found himself face-to-face with... a robotic digimon. (Somehow, he was unsurprised.) Literally, face-to-face- what he saw was mere inches away from touching him. It wasn't a pretty face, and he flailed aimlessly backwards while still keeping a hold on his partner.

It was hard to describe; it was small, shaped like a squished cylinder; a tall glass dome covered visible computer components on its head. Four leg-like appendages, one large red claw apiece, held it up, while large hands at the ends of tube-like structures were held up in an attacking position. Uneven teeth poked out of its mouth. One eye was a glowing yellow; the other, the metal around it had broken away, leaving it red and disturbingly organic, set in flesh.

"State your name," the digimon said in a stilted, digitized voice, flexing its fingers.

"Uh," Delfinimon tried, blinking a couple times. She then whispered out of the side of her mouth. "D-GEAR unit lighting up yet, yeom?"

"Not yet," Faris replied in a hushed tone, shaking his head 'no' once. Well... that meant he wasn't hostile yet, didn't it? He peered out from behind his dyed-green bangs. "... name's Faris, yo."

"And Delfinimon, yeom," his partner added quickly, inching closer and keeping a purple eye on the digimon.

Pause; a whirring noise, hardly perceptible under the sounds around them. And then:  
>"State your purpose, Farissyo-an-delfiniyeom."<br>At that, Faris couldn't stop himself- he let out a snort of laughter, and quickly covered his mouth.

"We were looking for, uh," Delfinimon began, holding back a fit of the giggles. "... uhhh... ..."

"A tour guide?" Faris supplied sardonically, rolling his eyes upwards. Despite everything, and the fact that he knew better... he was having a hard time taking this _seriously_. To his surprise, there was a whirring noise once more, and suddenly, the robotic digimon bowed as best it could with its odd form.

"Unit Datamon can serve this purpose," it said in the same even, robotic tone. With that, it turned around, away from them. It spread its arms out, and from said arms, it released a pulse of what could only be assumed to be electricity- or energy- or whatever it was. Almost like that, the machinery directly around them screeched to a halt.  
>The sound continued, but further away; the factory was still on full-tilt elsewhere, but just the cessation of activity immediately around them made all the difference.<p>

Why, they could hear themselves think again.

"What does Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom desire to know?" the Digimon - presumably, Datamon - said, turning to look at the two again.

Faris rubbed the back of his head, thinking for a second. "... y'know if this place has a control room?" he asked suddenly. Delfinimon looked up at him, surprised.

"Why?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Trust me on this," the boy responded succinctly.

Datamon paused for a second, as though considering. There was a beep or two, and then he responded. "Yes. Does Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom wish to be led to the Control Room? Have both parts of Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom come to a conclusion?"

"Oh! He must think we're a head-case, yeom," Delfinimon said quietly, realization dawning on her. "Like, two heads, one body, or somethin'."

Faris smiled, but nodded at Datamon. "Uh, if you would."

* * *

><p>It seemed, honestly, as though the entire factory was unmanned; Datamon even went so far as to open the door to the control room for them. Faris seemed engaged in looking at the things around him as they trudged through what felt like a technological jungle; Delfinimon was less-so, and almost fell asleep.<br>Eventually, they fell upon a door; on it was some writing that Faris couldn't read.

"That says 'control room', right?" Faris inquired of the dolphin; she nodded and yawned.

He looked at Datamon, smiled, and nodded. "Uh, thanks?"

"Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom is welcome," he intoned, bowing again. He turned away.  
>He didn't catch the look that Faris gave him- a cocked eyebrow, a suspicious glance. Regardless, still holding delfinimon, he managed to open this door in the same way as the last.<p>

It looked for all the world like a little computer-room- complete with wheeled chair. One large computer covered up most of the wall, and papers - all covered in the same illegible-to-Faris writing - covered the other three walls where there weren't small cabinets.  
>"... wild, man," Faris muttered, kicking the door shut behind him. He immediately set Delfinimon down, paused again at the door, and then hurried to the chair, throwing himself into it.<p>

"So explain to me what's goin' on?" Delfinimon asked, stretching out.

"Well, first, I don't think I trust Datamon, so I locked the door," Faris explained quickly, frowning a bit.

"Why not, yeom? He seemed pleasant enough. Weird, but pleasant."

"Think he's got a screw loose. You said this was an Era factory, right?" Faris leaned back on the chair; Delfinimon nodded slowly.

Then, however, she spoke again. "... still doesn't explain why you wanted to come in here."

"Figure I might be able to figure something out, yeah?" he responded as quick as though he had pre-prepared the answer, all while looking up at the large screen. It was flickering with images and symbols. "You can read this junk, right?"

Delfinimon pulled herself up nearer her partner, and nodded. "Yeah, but I don't get all this techno-stuff. I'm just a dolphin made of data and complex algorithms, yeom," she said, smiling. Faris smiled back and nodded. However, then, he looked at the keyboard in front of him. It was worn, as though it had been typed on so frequently that the letters had worn off- as though they would have been legible to him at all.  
>... well, it was worth a shot.<br>As though by reflex, his fingers began to fly across the keys- the general physical setup was the same, it seemed, and so he simply went with instincts- and mashed buttons as though he were typing on a keyboard with a familiar setup. A few seconds later, Faris grinned broadly; on the large screen before him, there popped up exactly what he was looking for:  
>A map of the floor they were on. Deep in the maze of the floor plan, a little blinking light.<p>

"Found the proxy entrance," he announced, looking over the pathway quickly, trying his best to commit it to memory.

"Whoaaaaa, yeom," Delfinimon said, her eyes wide. "... how'd you-?"

"Hey, well, don't tell anyone, but I'm kind of a nerd back home, y'know?" the boy responded, leaning on one hand.  
>... well, that was one word for it.<p>

It was true, though.  
>He had only been five when his (and Julian's) mother and father had gone their separate ways. His father moved him off to Capital City while their mother and Julian stayed home.<p>

_"Faris, kiddo, don't you want to go out and-"_

_"No, dad."_

_"... I swear, all you ever do is sit on that thing. It's been four years since we've moved here and you still haven't made a single friend. It's not healthy, Fare."_

It had been like that every year- had still been like that. Faris didn't have much time to contemplate, though, as suddenly, there was a pounding at the door.

"_**El. im. i. nate.**_"

"And _there's_ why I didn't trust him," the boy said, and looked at Delfinimon. He nodded once. It was a small room, but... well, they'd manage.

"Delfinimon, kickstart digivolve to... Shayumon!"

Indeed, with her increased bulk, Shayumon barely fit in the room.  
>She set out to fix this, by using her arms to drag herself over closer to the door- and then smashed it down with her head.<p>

The second the door broke down, Faris' D-GEAR began to glow as usual.

_Datamon. Perfect-level Machine digimon. Once a Vaccine digimon that aided in technological repair, its logic circuits were destroyed by a powerful Virus digimon and made it go rogue. With its Digital Bomb attack, it uses computer viruses to attack._

Faris groaned- all he needed to hear was 'perfect-level' before his heart sank.  
>On-cue, he heard a yell from outside the room, as Datamon threw his adult-level partner unceremoniously at a nearby pipe. Strong for his size, wasn't he?<p>

His heart leapt into his throat and began running at a hundred miles an hour when he saw Datamon's glowing yellow eye as the digimon turned to focus on him.  
>"Ah, buckets."<br>What now? Pull an Andrea and run in to try and take him on himself? No freakin' way.

And then, he heard from outside the room:  
>"<strong>Wavebreak Crash<strong>!"

With a crackling noise, a water-propelled shark smashed straight into Datamon. She only seemed to throw him off-balance- indeed, he was standing on one of his four feet, and wobbling terribly. Shayumon clenched her fists and beared her teeth.

"Don't you _dare_," she said, her eyes narrowing at the mechanical digimon. Indeed, she suddenly whipped her body around, slashing out at Datamon's one standing leg with her tail.

"**Tail Saw**!"

Datamon tumbled to the ground- but immediately, he pushed himself up, standing on his hands. He then used said appendages to throw himself into the air, and arms extended, he said as he leapt away from Shayumon: "**.TAL. BOMB.**"

The tips of his fingers opened up like parts lifting away from a central shaft. From the newfound open spaces, a barrage of tiny red missiles escaped his hands, flying directly at Shayumon.

She did not take it well.  
>The tens of little projectiles sank into her body and made her cry out in agony. What happened next, though, was even worse. She turned her attention onto Faris- the yellow sclera of her eyes was tinged red, while her usually-red pupils darkened and contracted to slits. Her lip curled back, her nostrils flaring, using her hands to proceed, she slowly advanced on her partner.<p>

That's right- Datamon used a virus to attack.  
>He had just assumed it would <em>harm her.<em>

"Ah, _buckets_."

The boy was frozen for a second. He could feel his eyes grow wide. His heart felt like it was caught in his throat, pounding like an army drum. All jollity he had had up to this point went immediately out the window.

He threw up his arms in front of his face, trying to think desperately of a way to get out of this situation.  
>... okay, he was never going to make fun of Andrea for Narakamon ever again.<p>

At that thought, Faris felt his D-GEAR begin to shake violently. It began to glow; a sort of nervous smile wormed its way onto Faris' face.  
>The smile was full-formed by the time he saw the little sigil of the virtue of humor begin to glow on where the screen was, obscured as it was by white light, he could see the symbol... in a vivid <em>sea green<em>. Like Simon's D-GEAR had done just last night, the light erupted from the little device, and the symbol shot like a beam at Shayumon. She yelled out as it sank into her chest, her entire body bathed in light.

_**Virtuous Digivolution, begin.**_

"Shayumon, virtuous digivolve to..."  
>Her body grew, expanding out in all directions, until she had nearly doubled in size, crushing small pieces of machinery around her. On her head and on her chest, metal plates of armor snapped into place. The full-arm-encompassing gauntlets on her arms shrunk- razor-sharp arm-guards, now, held in place by claws clenched tight. Her tail-tip vanished into data, and where it once was, a metallic replacement clinked into position. Her forearms and shoulders, it was hard to say if they were robotic or merely armored.<br>What really stood out, though, was that legs began to grow. Or, rather, metal lower-limbs snapped into place, fixed on her body. Clawed feet formed, toes webbed with a thin membrane.

Pure-yellow eyes sprung to life on her helmet, glowing bright, as she spread her blade-wielding arms wide, announcing:  
>"<strong>MetalShayumon<strong>!"

MetalShayumon shook her head, as though shaking away something from her head, and clenched her fists, looking at the far-smaller Datamon.

Faris stared for a minute, his mouth fallen open in awe. And then, he said the only thing that came to mind, with a victorious pump of his fist into the air:  
>Dude! I have a <em>giant cyborg shark<em> for a partner! _Could this be any more hardcore!_

"Sure it could," the giant digimon replied, her huge tail swaying as though she were preparing to attack. "I could have lasers on my face, yeom."

"Of _course_ you still say that," Faris remarked sardonically, looking faux-exasperated.

Any further banter was cut short by a metallic, droning voice once more:

"**.TAL. BOMB.**"

MetalShayumon, this time, met the wave of red projectiles all but head-on- in fact, she out and threw herself into their path. They contacted with her, of course- but they burst on impact, repelled by tough shark skin.

"**Charge Wave**!" the cyborg shark yelled, tensing her body. She began to spark with electricity, and quickly a wave of crackling energy was emitted from her body.  
>Datamon took the full brunt of it, and summarily was thrown backwards into a pipe.<p>

The robot waited no time- he extended his arms out behind him as he was thrown backwards, and almost immediately deflected off, throwing himself back at the shark. He landed on his feet with a clank, and rushed at her again- and feinted around back before she could turn. Despite the size difference, he grabbed her by the tail and, with a mighty heave, picked her up by it, swinging her a half-turn around.  
>He let her go, then, into the nearest wall. Once she had landed, he extended his hands once more.<br>"**.TAL. BOMB.**"

"Geeze!" MetalShayumon groaned, finding her way to her feet and gritting her teeth as the attack hit her for the third time.  
>"Find a new technique! <strong>Seeker Torpedo<strong>!"

The metal chest-plate opened up, revealing a broad cannon port; immediately, as soon as its way was clear, out shot a single large torpedo. If Faris caught sight of it before it flew at Datamon, he would notice that it was quite a stylish missile indeed, adorned with shark-fins and a face painted on front to match.  
>It was a fleeting glimpse at best; the missile fired off at blinding speed. Datamon tried to jump out of the way, but the torpedo only followed his course- and sent him airborne when it hit.<p>

Maybe ten seconds passed. MetalShayumon looked at Faris quickly, not willing to take her eyes off of where Datamon had been sent.  
>"... think it's safe to inspect, yeom?" she asked; the boy nodded.<p>

Slowly, they tiptoed closer. Nestled in a Datamon-shaped dent in a huge metal cyinder, they found the robot itself.

In a crackling voice, it spoke; MetalShayumon tensed, but what it said made her stop.

"What does Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom desire to know?"  
>His tone was entirely different- it was as benevolent as a robotic voice could be, or at least far less stilted than it had been when he was attacking.<p>

Faris stared for a second, then looked at his gargantuan fishy companion.  
>"... I think he's got a little Jekyll and Hyde goin' on here."<p>

"Knew he had a screw loose," MetalShayumon said, smirking.

* * *

><p>Back at the camp, the kids and remaining digimon had taken Simon's explanation of where Faris and his partner had gone; they sat impatiently, milling about.<br>Then, they heard a deep crunching noise through the underbrush, and attentions were turned. The children grabbed their D-GEAR units, prepared for a battle.

And then a giant metal-masked shark head poked through. The group tensed further, until...  
>"Hi, yeom!"<p>

False alarm.

"Check out who reached perfect, yeom~" MetalShayumon chirrupped- it was so surreal to see such a creature speak as such, but...

"One of us! One of us!" Egakumon cheered, pumping his fist in the air. Congratulations were passed around the camp, with the most enthuse coming from the digimon (except Sinjmon, who had his reasons not to be so)- until they realized that Faris was nowhere to be seen.  
>On cue, Faris stepped around and into view from behind a tree, waving.<p>

"Hi guys!" Faris said cheerfully. He plopped down on one of the logs, breathing out heavily, as though he were tired- and he was.  
>He only then realized that they were looking at him, waiting with bated breath, as though waiting for his announcement. paused for dramatic effect, and then:<br>"I found the Proxy Area entrance!"

"Way to go, skippy!" Simon said with a fist-pump, grinning.

"What do you know, you are good for something," Andrea said with a smirk pulling at her lips.

Faris chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "I also found us a, uh, tour guide."

From behind MetalShayumon, the battered-up Datamon stepped out, waving one metallic arm warily.  
>"You are Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom's companions?"<p> 


	16. Chapter 16: What We Are In the Dark

_Author's Note: Yeaaah sorry about the delay, here... real life concerns took over. I may (will, until further notice) be switching to a bi-weekly update schedule just for my sanity, so look for the next update by a week from Monday (or, in dates, next update will be on-or-by January 30t__h). I'm trying hard to actually let the character of these, well, characters, show through- a problem I've had in the past, and now, with these episodes _focusing_ on that, there's no excuse for flat characters.  
>I may also be going back and re-writing, or at least editing, chapters 1-~12, possibly on non-update weeks. So stay tuned, kiddos.<em>

* * *

><p>While Faris took a rest (and MetalShayumon quickly degenerated down to Delfinimon again), Datamon introduced himself to the camp.<p>

"Where'd you find this guy?" Simon asked with a cheeky grin, putting both hands behind his head, fingers threaded together. Faris looked at Delfinimon, who was sitting beside him, and smiled a bit sheepishly.

"He, uh, kinda tried to kill us," the green-haired boy said, and then quickly went on to explain- where they had gone, and what had happened in the factory. He covered Delfinimon's digivolution and their own discovery of the proxy area entrance, and...

* * *

><p><em>"What on earth was that?" Faris muttered, taking another ginger step towards Datamon. He immediately jumped backwards, however, as Datamon began to let loose a low whirring noise, pushing himself out of the indentation that his collision had caused. "Back off, yo!"<em>  
><em>He had apparently forgotten that the robot's last spoken words had been in the tone that it had used when they met him.<em>

_"Unit Datamon thanks Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom," the robot said after it landed on the metal floor with a clang._

_"What's your deal, yeom?" MetalShayumon asked, leaning way down to be at near-eye level with Datamon._

_There was a pause, and then Datamon closed his eyes. "There have been issues. This unit has had its firmware modified by the entity known as Lordderrah." For a second, the giant shark and the boy exchanged looks, confused, until Faris mouthed: 'Era?' and MetalShayumon shrugged with a nod of assent- or, as close as she could to a nod, as her head was on the ground to look at Datamon. The robot continued._

_"The procedure did not reach completion. Unit Datamon has been overseeing this factory since."_

_"So... you're a friendly little guy?" MetalShayumon tried; Datamon paused, and then nodded again._

_"Counting malfunctions as outliars in the equation, yes. What does Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom desire? Does Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom still require a," and here, it seemed to recall a voice clip, as it spoke back in Faris' voice, "'tour guide?'?_

_Faris chuckled, putting his hand in his pockets. "Just our luck," he remarked as an aside to his partner. After a second though, he looked thoughtful, and then, "... actually..."_

* * *

><p>"... and that's it," Delfinimon chirrupped, looking over at Datamon with a smile; the robot nodded once.<p>

"And you're absolutely sure he's not going to go renegade and try to kill all of us, right?" Andrea said with her usual level of skepticism, holding Sinjmon in her arms as she got to her feet. She stood uneven, one of her hips jutting to the side in a defiant stance. If she weren't holding her currently-tiny partner close to her, her arms would probably have been folded or, on her hands would be on her hips.

Toby looked over at her, and gave the girl a sort of nervous smile. "It wouldn't hurt you to have a little faith, now and then," he tried. She didn't seem to hear him, though, as Emily stepped in to speak almost-over him.

"Cheer up, Andree," the younger girl said cheerfully, standing up next to her as though she were all but spring-loaded. Kamomon flapped his wings a few times to get himself upright and standing next to his partner, and he dusted himself off. "If anything goes wrong, we've got those two," Emily continued, gesturing at Simon, Faris, and their respective partners.

Andrea pulled one corner of her mouth back in a curious sort of expression, but she nodded, petting the tuft of fur on Sinjmon's head idly.

Like a long-inactive car groaning into motion, the group slowly lurched to their feet. They were still sore and tired, and things were moving too fast to really take in. It was boggling to think that less than a day had passed since... well, last night. Narakamon was still fresh on their minds, and now all of a sudden two of the six had achieved the next level.

... and they were still no closer at all to making contact with the seventh digimon or the seventh child. Though they were making progress with their digimon at a staggering pace, it almost felt like they were walking in circles- to say nothing of their personal relationships with one another. On that front, they were still almost as shallow as they had been at the start... or so it felt to Toby.

"Are you okay?"

The shortest member of the party was jolted out of his train of thought by his partner's soft voice. "Huh?"

"You look like you're thinking about something," Lammon replied matter-of-factly, and stepped closer to her partner's leg, looking up at him. The boy smiled back down at her, and nodded his head once, the lower part of his face being soundly buried in his large hood by the act.

"Just thinking," Toby said, and then nodded his head after the others' retreating backs to indicate that they should follow. Lammon looked up at him with a gentle yet inscrutiable face, and then nodded her agreement. They took off side-by-side, Lammon's smoky ponytail trailing behind them as they moved quickly to re-join with the group.

Once they did, Julian and Iguamon quickly took up the rear of the pack again, speaking very little; Andrea trailed back, as well, but if she spoke at all it was to the little fuzzball in her arms. Simon and Egakumon were chatting with Faris and Delfinimon, the latter pair of which walking closest to Datamon. As Toby and his partner were absorbed into the group mass, Kamomon was chattering with Emily, making great sweeping motions (presumbly) to emphasize points he was making. In fact, he almost accidentally back-handed Lammon this way as she approached, had she not ducked her head very quickly.

"Ummm... watch where you're waving those things?" Lammon asked in a quiet voice, smiling; though she didn't make it the way that, say, _Delfinimon_ would have, there was just a hint of a joking tone in her voice, but it almost seemed as though she were unsure of how to jest. Kamomon, flustered, apologized quickly and profusely, until Emily put a hand on his feathered head to calm him down.

It wasn't much of a long walk until the horrible smell wafted into their noses again; it was no surprise that Faris and Delfinimon almost seamlessly covered their noses, while everyone else stopped to gag and air their complaints before doing so. Andrea, holding her partner, had to shift him to one arm to hold her nose with the other hand. Sinjmon himself had his cheeks comically puffed out as he held his breath.  
>Simon and Egakumon pointedly resisted the urge to comment; they seemed just a tad reluctant to admit that they had managed to go in <em>exactly<em> the wrong direction on their searches earlier that morning.

"Oh, that's foul," mumbled Julian, shaking his head as though the act would clear the smell away from around him.

"Don't worry, broski," Faris said back cheerfully, though from holding his nose he sounded as though he had a killer cold. "It just means we're close!"  
>Julian and Iguamon exchanged looks.<p>

In fact, the only ones who seemed to be unaffected by the smell were Datamon (who seemed to have no sense of smell), and... Toby and Lammon. There was a gentle aroma drifting along with the wispy smoke drifting away from the sheep's ponytail, and subtle as it was, it seemed to completely cancel out the far stronger putrid smell, and thus by standing close to her, Toby managed to avoid noticing the smell at all.  
>He chose not to mention it, likely for fear of being trampled by the others trying to crowd around his partner.<p>

The _pleasant aroma_ from the factory, which the two who had been there before noted was stronger than before, was a motivator to pick up the pace; Datamon seemed confused, but he obliged with the change in travel speed, though he had to run quite awkwardly to keep in the lead.

Not long after they took up a run, the sight of the looming factory peeked into their view- or rather, filled their view. It wasn't exactly a subtle building.  
>"So let's count architecture as another thing that Era's not great at," Egakumon said as he looked up at the ugly building, arms akimbo, twiddling with his paintbrush between a couple of his big claws.<p>

There was little time for more commentary; a rustle in the trees behind them, whether it was anything to worry about or not, made them scurry around towards the front of the factory.

Unseen, a black shape solidified out of a mass of black smoke in the trees; one big yellow eye on its chest blinked, and then the creature was gone again.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long thereafter for them to run around to the front of the factory, their collective breath held; the second they moved through the door and into the non-putrid air inside, they were taking huge gulping breaths of air.<p>

"This place makes so much sense," Emily said with a little lilt in her voice, smiling. ".. s'kind of funny that we don't have to breathe like that after swimming, but we do after that..." she mused, looking up to the ceiling in thought.  
>She was still looking up, thinking, even as the others moved well past her. Kamomon tugged at her wrist, and they quickly re-joined with the mass that was the group as they passed through the door and into the bulk of the factory.<p>

The sound of the machinery had roared back to life since Faris and Delfinimon had walked away, and so they devolved to communicating by mime; Datamon led them exclusively, now, taking off into the jungle of technological oddities. Ducking their way under strange protruding structures and over pipes, they were immediately grateful that Datamon was leading the way- there were a hundred diferent ways to turn, little tunnels, and some of the path would hardly have been readily obvious.

That said, one incredibly winding path later, and Datamon stepped to the side as the humans and their partners tumbled out of a tunnel-like, cramped hallway; it was like a small room, barely large enough to accomodate them comfortably. In the center of the floor was a fixture that reminded the humans of a manhole cover- for that was what it was.  
>Datamon gingerly prodded his way past the kids, and stuck his hand into it, his fingers slotting nicely into four small holes on the cover. There was a clicking and a whirring noise, and he pulled it open.<p>

"So you're sure this is it?" Simon said, looking around at the others- but particularly the digimon, who seemed to be quite at-attention.

"Certain," Egakumon said, nodding; his tail was swaying back and forth, the long fur at the end of it practically sticking up.

Delfinimon nodded. "No doubt about it, yeom!"

Sinjmon looked conflicted for a moment, then turned his big coal-black eyes to Datamon. "... thanks," the little furball muttered.

"Farisyo-an-delfiniyeom and allies are welcome," the robot said with a bow.

There was a brief pause.  
>"... well, last one in's a rotten egg!" Egakumon cheered, and leapt into the hole unceremoniously. They looked down; it was pitch-black, and the rabbit was almost immediately out of sight.<br>From about fifteen feet below, a second later, they heard the rabbit again: "Ow."

The others chose to use the ladder. Once again, Toby and Lammon were the last to lower themselves down, watching as Andrea descended while holding Sinjmon under her arm. Toby seemed... apprehensive, or so it seemed to Lammon. She looked up at him, and tilted her head.

"It's, uhm, dark," Toby mumbled, twiddling his index fingers.

The lamb tilted her head, a sort of worried expression on her face. "The other Proxy Area was, too, but you didn't-" she spoke gently, and quickly silenced herself when Toby spoke over her.

"Yeah but there were always those, um, lantern-things!" he said about a half-step louder than normal (not that it was loud, by any means- his normal voice was quite soft, so taking it up a bit didn't do much), going slightly pink in the face. He quickly got quiet again. "And it doesn't look like there's any down there. 'Least not near the entrance."  
>Lammon frowned a bit, and nuzzled her head against her partner's side.<p>

"It will be okay," she reassured, smiling just barely.

Toby shuddered, sinking his face deeper into his hood. He hesitantly put a hand on Lammon's head, and nodded. That said, he was still significantly less than enthusiastic as he shakily took a hold of the ladder and began his descent.  
>Lammon waited for him to get sufficiently down the ladder before she, somewhat awkwardly, climbed down herself, having to hook her hoof-like appendages around each rung in the absence of proper hands. Eventually, however, all six humans and all six Digimon were on the landing, maneuvering themselves around in the scant light that came down like a shaft from the opening above them.<p>

"Unit Datamon wishes you good luck!" came a metallic voice from above, and then a thunk as the cover was returned to its place.  
>It was then very, very dark, except for a pinprick of light from one direction.<p>

Perhaps they would have mobilized towards it, if they weren't falling over eachother.

"Ow!"  
>"That's my <em>foot<em>!"  
>"OKAY,<em> WHO GRABBED MY HAT<em>."  
>"Waugh!"<p>

This continued for a little while, stumbling and stepping on feet and tails and everything else, until Iguamon's voice rose above the clamor:  
>"Julian, don't your D-GEAR units have lights?"<p>

A moment later, there was a small eruption of blue-white lights from screens- hardly enough to see much around them, but enough to orient themselves and get off of eachother's feet.  
>And also enough for the group at large to notice that there were only five lights, as opposed to six D-GEAR units; a quick scan around, facing their digivices around to light, showed Toby, putting his arms up around his head as though to protect him from some unseen assailant.<p>

"Uhhh," Simon said, raising his eyebrows and his eyes sliding half-shut, "you gonna be okay there, Tobes?"

Toby cracked open an eye and 'harumphed', bringing his arms down. "I'm fine."

Simon scrutinized the younger boy for a moment, before nodding as though he were satisfied with his observations, and he pointed towards the faint light. "Light at the end of the tunnel! Onwards!" With the hand not holding his D-GEAR, he pointed dramatically.

"'Onwards'?" Julian muttered out of the side of his mouth, speaking to his standing-nearby brother. "He think he's some kind of video-game hero or something?"

"Let the man have his delusions, Jules. Not everyone can be a Sea Green Ranger," Faris replied; it wasn't visible, due to his pointing his light away from his face, but he was grinning regardless.

With many a stumble and a trip, the twelve began their movement towards the light. It was distant and dim, but each step forward was a step closer. Slowly but steadily, the light grew closer.  
>If any of the children or digimon would look around with the aids of their digivices, they would notice the actual appearance of their surroundings. A hard-packed dirt floor, with a rather low, curved ceiling set the stage. While the floor was dry, were they to place hands on the walls, they would notice what seemed to be sprawling amounts of ivy and gnarled roots and moss, and grooves carved into the rock walls below.<p>

It took well more than a good thirty minutes of walking; Faris and Emily were engaged in a curiously emphatic discussion of improvisational humor, Simon was chatting with a number of the digimon about the Digital World, while - to both party's surprise - Julian and Andrea were having a surprisingly civil discussion, mostly on the subject of the group's experiences thus far and how to avoid a terrible death in the future. Iguamon was listening intently, while Sinjmon stuck in comments here and there; Toby and Lammon, for their part, were conversing quietly, commenting on the activity around them.

One long, dark walk later, they could actually see a foot in front of their faces without the aid of the D-GEAR units' light; they were becoming aware of the walls around them. Once they could see properly, they stopped, just for a moment.

"Nasty," Emily remarked, sticking her tongue out; it wasn't hard to see why. The vegetation trailing down the walls looked slimy, not helped in the slightest by the fact that water was seeping down alongside it.  
>Irrelevant of his partner's remark, Kamomon trotted right on up to the nearest wall of the tunnel, placing his wing right on it.<p>

"It's just ocean-water seeping down," he surmised, looking over his shoulder at his travel companions. "We iare/i under the Great Ocean, after all."

"Which reminds me," Andrea said, looking around, still holding Sinjmon close. "Where, exactly, are we going to?"

"Good question," her tiny partner said, having to jerk his body around a little bit so as not to get a mouthful of Andrea's arm when he tried to speak. He looked around, and furrowed his brow, as best he could.

"Maybe it will be more apparent when we're, y'know, not standing in a soggy tunnel, yeom," Delfinimon said; there was a murmur of assent.  
>A moment or two of walking brought the group into the brightly-lit room; it wasn't a tremendously large room at all, perhaps twenty square feet across in any direction, in the form of a circular chamber. The domed ceiling was about fifteen, twenty feet high, itself; in the dead center of the ceiling was a large glowing orb, presumably the source of the light. The walls were made of a sandstone-like material, and the ground was mixed between hard-packed dirt and scrub-like plants. There was only one more tunnel on the opposite side of the room, for all the world looking like the one they had entered through, down to the lack of apparent lighting.<br>It wasn't very impressive, but after the long, straight-ahead trek through the tunnel, there were very few complaints to be had.

"I'm freakin' tired," Egakumon groaned, stretching out his arms, almost dropping his paintbrush.

"We've been walking for quite a way," Iguamon said in his usual impassive tone, but he was taking a look at the room around them. There was almost nothing on the floor, aside from a few chunks of rock and puddles of pooling water. The dinosaur looked at his human partner.  
>"Julian, check your D-GEAR unit."<p>

"Get a reading on where we are," Julian murmured, nodding. He lifted his D-GEAR, and tapped at the buttons to bring up the holographic map.  
>The little globe flickered to life, and Julian tapped it until he located the small flashing conglomeration of dots.<p>

"The Deep Jungle," Iguamon said as he popped his head up alongside, nodding.

"What, is that where we're headed to?" Simon asked, blinking a couple times and adjusting his goggles, seemingly out of reflex. Egakumon nodded, but he placed a couple claws on his chin.

"Guess so," the rabbit said, but he looked deep in thought. "But... I don't think we were ever told anything about that place, though. Is it, like, even an Era area?"

"Let's err on the side of 'yes'," Kamomon said evenly, holding out his hands with hands up, as though he were trying to determine the relative weight of two held objects. Lammon walked over, for the first time in a while stepping from Toby.

"Well... Deekamon said there were still places that had held out from Era," she reasoned slowly. "Maybe that was one of them." The digimon looked at eachother and almost as one, they shrugged.

Faris breathed out through his nose, putting his hands in his pockets. "Guess we won't know 'til we get there?"

That was all they really needed; though they were grateful for the light, it wasn't the point. The sooner they continued moving on, the sooner they could get out - and moreover, there was absolutely nothing to be seen in the room.  
>In the moments after, they mobilized themselves back into the tunnel, even though Lammon had to gently prod her partner forward with her head.<p>

They shuffled down the tunnel; to Toby's great pleasure, the faint little glowing red orbs that served as lanterns started to dot the walls, providing a faint but at least _existant_ lighting, keeping them from stumbling in the dark. This was a blessing- there was no pinpoint of light to head towards, now, and the tunnel was starting to weave and turn.

This came to a head when they reached a fork in the trail. A quick look revealed that neither ended in a dead-end anytime soon- at least, not visibly. One to the right and one to the left, they looked entirely like eachother.

"Ah, crap," Egakumon drawled, groaning and putting his hands to his face.

"... and we don't have a Gotsumon to save our rears this time," said Simon, making a very similar gesture, sighing. "... so, what do we do? Pick a path and hope we're right?"

"Sounds about right, yeom!" Delfinimon said from Faris' arms; her partner unceremoniously dropped her on the floor, smirking. The dolphin rubbed her head and looked up at Faris, looking jokingly put out. She looked up, watching as the others began to talk.

"We split up, obviously," Andrea said as though it were the simplest thing in the world, shrugging. "Go ahead a little bit, see what happens, come back in ten minutes, see who looked most promising."  
>The group at large looked at eachother; it seemed like a sound-<em>enough<em> idea... or at least, the best idea they had.

Iguamon, before the question could even be risen, spoke: "Put Egakumon and Simon on one team. Faris and Delfinimon on the other." When it wasn't immediately cottoned on as to what he meant, the dinosaur continued. "So we have at least one Perfect-level on each side if something happens."  
>It was, again, as good an idea as they were going to get.<p>

A moment or two of discussion later, and they were split into groups. Emily, Andrea, Simon, and their partners would take the left path; Faris, Julian, Iguamon, and Delfinimon would go to the right.

"What about Toby?" Emily asked, looking over at the short boy and the lamb.

"I'll wait here," Toby replied in a quiet voice, twiddling his index fingers again.

"... really?" Simon asked, blinking a couple times. "You're, uh, gonna be okay?"

"Yes!" the youngest member of the team snapped back, a bit too fast; he realized this, quickly, and went pink in the face again. "Um. ... yeah, I'll be okay. If anything happens..."

"He's got me," Lammon cut in in her usual gentle way, smiling up at Toby. "I can help him get away, if it comes to that," she added, predicting a comment from one of her teammates; Delfinimon and Egakumon both stopped with their mouths open, looked at eachother.

"If we're not back in ten minutes," Faris said cheerfully as he and his brother turned to the tunnel, "just wait long-"

"Too cheap a line, Fare," said both Delfinimon and Julian at once. The two stopped and looked at eachother, blinking. Regardless, there wasn't much more of a delay. The ten not waiting behind took off quickly; Toby stood and waited, putting his hands in his pockets, waiting until both groups were out of sight.

Lammon looked up at her partner, but she didn't say a word. Perhaps five seconds passed before Toby looked back down at her. He tilted his head, and only then she spoke.  
>"Why did you want to stay behind?" she asked, sitting down.<p>

There was a notable hesitation before she got a response.

"Do you get the feeling at all that they're kind of ignoring us?"

"They're not trying to, Toby," Lammon said softly, nuzzling her head against Toby's hand. He sighed, though, and almost moved his hand away. The sheep looked at him curiously, and then ventured as far as to say, "what's on your mind?"

Only after what seemed to be a bit of an internal struggle did Toby speak again, and he was pointedly not looking at his partner initialy.  
>"It feels like, I don't know. Nobody in this group really likes eachother much, 'cept maybe Faris and Julian. ... guess Emily and Andrea kinda seem friendly, too, but..." He breathed out heavily. "Feels like I still don't know anyone, even though we've been, y'know... uhm, going around fighting monsters together."<p>

Lammon looked up at him, and paused. Toby took this as a chance to continue.  
>"And... I don't know. When I said I'd stay, it seemed like... like you didn't think they'd think you could manage it?" he tried, struggling to find the words. Just the mention of the idea made his eyes drop to the floor, and he leaned against the wall, barely minding that it was getting the back of his hoodie soggy.<p>

The sheep smiled. "I'm not a fighter, Toby. And neither are you. And I think they all know that. They didn't mean anything by it."

Toby looked at his partner, and breathed out again. "I guess."

Any further conversation was cut short by a deep rumbling- at the most inopportune moment. A rattling sound, followed by creaking and the sound of wind echoing in the tunnel; Toby grabbed his D-GEAR almost instinctively.  
>Almost as he did so, Lammon began to glow and grow.<p>

"Lammon, kickstart digivolve to... Ariamon!"

It was unknown how much good it would do- in fact, the second they caught sight of what was causing the noise, Toby's breath caught momentarily.

Forcing its way through a tunnel too small for it to fit through comfortably, a skeletal creature surrounded by an ethereal black glow forced its way towards the boy and sheep. Huge incisor teeth complemented huge spikes running along its back and huge curved horns on either side of its skull; bony wings were awkwardly held down to its body to allow it to move. Bones were laid over nebulous black matter, cut across with barely perceptible white lines where not covered with silvery-blue bones.  
>Red eyes glowed, bright as beacons, in the dark, as parts of its body, mostly around the core, glowed faint red in kind.<p>

The D-GEAR began to speak.

_SkullBaluchimon. Perfect-level Undead digimon. A digimon created from the data of fossils, it has no emotions or mind. It works entirely on instinct. Its Grave Bone attack uses its mighty claws to trample its opponents, but beware most of all its Deadly Fear._

"Great," Toby mumbled, lowering his eyes.

"We'll be fine," Ariamon said quietly; her wispy body moved back and forth in a nervous motion; the skeletal monster could not advance very quickly, being too large to move quickly. This was not a plus; heavy breathing combined with the slow, heavy cracking and grinding of movement past stone came together for a deeply unsettling visual.  
>Toby took a few steps back, looking quickly between the two paths that his teammates had gone down; for a brief, split second, he considered taking off down one, catch them before they went too far.<p>

But he didn't. Ariamon looked over at him; he nodded, a bit apprehensively. The smoky sheep breathed out heavily, and steeled her nerves, before...  
><strong>Vanish Strike<strong>!" she called out, fading into a wisp of smoke. She reappeared again near SkullBaluchimon, far too close for comfort, and tried to ram her head into his chest.  
>It didn't work very well; really, there was almost no effect. In fact, the great beast simply swiped at her with one massive bony forepaw before she could respond. With her light body, she was thrown back almost immediately all the way backwards to her partner.<p>

"Are you okay?" Toby yelped almost immediately. Ariamon nodded, forcing herself to her feet, putting herself between her partner and their opponent. Both the sheep's and the boy's eyes grew a bit wider when, with a great lurch and grinding noise, SkullBaluchimon forced itself forward, sliding its way in the least elegant way possible closer to them.

"**Deadly Fear**," the skeletal monster hissed, rearing down; its tail swayed, smashing into the wall, as the ethereal black glow around it began to seep further out of its body, creeping towards Ariamon like shadowy tendrils.  
>They reached her faster than she could back away, wrapping around her; she cried out, closing her eyes and trying to resist.<p>

And then the already-faint lights suddenly cut out, leaving the entire battle in the dark.

"Ariamon!" Toby cried out frantically, reaching out to where the sheep had been a second before- his hands passed through nothing. "_**Ariamon!**_"

"I'm fine, Toby," the sheep replied, her voice sounding weak; he realized, feeling a sort of pressure behind his back, that she was wrapping herself around him, and his hands had simply phased through the smoky part of her body.

He could feel otherwise; there was a feeling in the air, a cold feeling of dread permeating through... ... though, really, it was probably just the darkness.  
>Or maybe it was the sudden flash of SkullBaluchimon's red eyes far too close for comfort, the monster having lurched even further forward.<p>

Toby backed up for a second, running straight into Ariamon- almost as though to remind himself that she was there.

His D-GEAR began to glow, then shake. Like the two before him, the rattling of his D-GEAR was almost too much to handle, the light growing more and more intense, until it shot straight out of the D-GEAR unit and into Ariamon. She began to glow vivid white, lighting up a length of the tunnel; SkullBaluchimon actually reared back and hissed, just slightly. The symbol of Trust paradoxically shined in jet-black as it joined with her body.

_**Virtuous Digivolution, begin.**_

"Ariamon, virtuous digivolve to..."  
>The sheep grew in size significantly, though not quite as large as their opponent- she could still move freely in the tunnel, even if it was now significantly more cramped. She re-formed her hind legs, the smoke relegating itself to her hair and her tail. Silver rings snapped into place around her neck and the base of her tail, whilst a metal armor faceplate formed to cover part of her head. Glowing blue orbs formed, floating around her neck. What was interesting, though, was that she rose into the air, floating- and beneath her, a puffy, oddly-solid cloud formed. She lowered herself onto it, folding her legs beneath her.<p>

She reared her head back, letting loose a soft, soothing, melodic cry, before:  
>"<strong>Nimbimon<strong>!"

Toby was in awe for a moment- he didn't even notice that as the light cleared away from his partner's new form, the red lights flickered back to life.

"I may not be a fighter," Nimbimon said quietly to her partner, "but that doesn't mean I can't." Toby nodded once, looking from her to the skeletal monster before them.  
>"<strong>Orb Bomb<strong>!" Nimbimon yelled; the orbs floating around her neck began to glow bright white, and very quickly the orbs themselves flew at SkullBaluchimon. When they contacted its body, they exploded into light on impact, and the beast roared. The sound was so loud, it shook the tunnel.

"**Grave Bone**," it snarled, lifting its huge foreclaws up and smashing them back down onto Nimbimon. The attack rung true, and the sheep cried out as she was knocked off of her cloud and pinned down to the floor.

She growled, and with her refound hind feet, she kicked hard at SkullBeluchimon's ribs, the orbs around her neck starting to glow again. Instead, though, she called a new attack:

"**Downpour**!"  
>Over SkullBaluchimon, black, crackling clouds formed; from them poured shining drops of rain that, when they contacted it, seemed to cause it great pain, as it flinched backwards. Nimbimon took the chance to leap back onto her cloud, breathing heavily.<p>

SkullBaluchimon snarled, its blank red eyes glowing fierce. It hissed out: "**Deadly Fear**..."

Immediately in response, as the darkness began to spread, Nimbimon returned with another call of "**Orb Bomb**!"; the white orbs contacted the dark tendrils, and the two seemed to cancel eachother out. Or, rather, the latter attack seemed to cancel the first- and kept going, smashing into SkullBaluchimon again.

It roared, and began to glow with data; streams of information swirled around it, and as they had grown accustomed to, the swirling data left naught but an egg behind.

Toby may have commented were it not for the fact that behind them, from both forks in the tunnel, he heard yells and cries from behind.

"What's going on here?" Julian asked, the first to draw near- he, Faris, and their partners were just in time to see the last flash of data. The remaining three partnerships didn't arrive for another couple seconds.  
>They, meanwhile, were just in time to see Nimbimon look between all the gathered, bow her head with a serene smile, and glow white. The light dissipated, and all that was left was Lammon- still with a smile and bowed head.<p>

* * *

><p>"I, uh, guess we missed something, yeah?" Simon murmured, rubbing the back of his head.<p>

"Umm... you could say that," Toby said modestly - sheepishly, even - rubbing his arm with a little smile.

"What did you find?" Lammon said, cutting off further discussion- though the other digimon, she could tell, were chomping at the bit to ask questions and give congratulations. Perhaps that was why she did it.

"Oh!" Kamomon was the first to respond, flapping his wings. "... ours led to a dead-end of sorts," the bird explained, chuckling. "Or, it came to a little... loop."

"But then we heard commotion!" Emily continued, splaying her hands wide.

"I suppose that makes it easy, then," Julian said, looking at the other 'party'. "Ours kept going as far as we could tell."

Toby smiled. "I suppose it was a, um, success?"

"In a manner of speaking," Iguamon said with a single nod.

"So not far to go!" Egakumon said with a cheer, and then ammended: "... I assume. How long are we, yet?" He looked expectantly around at the humans, as though they had a good answer.

Julian paused, and he picked up his D-GEAR once more. A button push or two later, and the little globe was up again. He looked at Iguamon for an answer, holding the D-GEAR more down to the dino's level. Iguamon scanned his eyes over it, estimating the distance on the map... and then suddenly his eyes got uncharacteristically wide.  
>This did not go unnoticed by Julian, who turned his attention to his partner. He almost asked a question, before he fell victim to the same expression. His jaw fell slightly slack.<p>

"Holy crap, that thing must have just told him where the Holy Grail is," Faris said, peering over at his brother. He didn't have time to register, though, before Julian snapped back in an unusually emotional voice.

"Check your D-GEARs!"

The five other children did as the oldest of their number suggested, and almost immediately, the entire room was echoing with yells and exclamations from child and digimon alike.

There was a seventh dot blinking at the end of the tunnel near the Deep Jungle.

* * *

><p><em>Author's (End)Notes: Doooon't worry, it won't be half that easy.<em>


	17. Chapter 17: A Break in the Clouds

The twelve ran down the tunnel as though their lives depended on it. The madcap nature of the rush surprised _all of nobody_. Faris had once again grabbed Delfinimon to make sure she kept with them; Julian saw it fit to help so as to make sure the extra weight didn't incapacitate his brother in the frantic run.

They ran as though their lives depended on it- it was a long run, farther even than the walk had been to the first chamber, what seemed so far back. They trusted their instincts at any forks, and they seemed to lead true, insofar that they didn't reach any dead-ends. They didn't so much as talk- other things were more important. They had to save their breaths.

Their breaths caught, almost as one, when - who knew how long later - they saw a light at the end of the tunnel, a light that was quickly turning the yellow-orange of a sunset. There was a silhouette, standing stark against the light, just about as tall as Simon, with a shape curled around its shoulders.

_Finally,_ Simon thought to himself, a ragged grin growing on his features. But the closer they got...

The black shape began to flicker, as though smoke or steam were drifting away from it and taking the indvidiual's substance with it. The kids slowed down, and in place of the sense of victory and hope, a seed of doubt - of dread - was planted.

That seed grew to tremendous proportions as the shape split into two, a large black shape with four legs drifting out of the human-esque one. The one with four legs was far too large, too thin.  
>The human-like one left behind? Was far too tall. One arm was far too long. The kids and digimon stumbled to a very swift stop.<p>

"Hello again, kids!" Forbidramon's sneering voice echoed impressively in the narrow cave. He turned around, and in the fading light, they could see a glint in his eyes and a mocking smile on his face as he spread his mismatched arms wide. Simon mumbled something that was probably uncouth, clenching his fists tight. Nimon, standing behind Forbidramon, blocked all but the slightest of the outside light with its large black body.

"Great," Egakumon spat, gripping his paintbrush tight. "Senor Psychopath again." The little bunny looked almost prepared to rush their adversary, his tail twitching with anxious energy.

Forbidramon took a step forward. The group, to their credit, stood their ground, unmoving, prepared to defend themselves at the slightest provocation. It took a second, thus, for them to notice something important.

"Look what he's holding!" Emily yelped, pointing.  
>Indeed, in his robotic hand, there was a device that looked very familiar, and the digimon visibly bristled. There, clutched so casually, was a purple and black D-GEAR unit, its screen flashing on and off with a faint light. Another <em>nasty<em> smile pulled at Forbidramon's lips.

"Looking for something?" he drawled, shaking the D-GEAR a couple times for emphasis, and looked at the device impassively. "Pity, I don't know how to work this thing," he said, and shrugged, still smiling.

"Where did you get that!" Kamomon demanded in a squawky voice, flapping his wings and ruffling his feathers.

Forbidramon looked over his shoulder at Nimon, and smiled. "_Foooound_ it," he said as though he were a five-year-old. "Doesn't matter, though. Seventh brat ain't gonna need it."

The kids looked at eachother, quizzical, confused, and most of all, _irritated_.  
>Somehow, in some deep part of their minds, they knew something like this would happen- nothing had gone right since they had arrived, it seemed like.<p>

"What do you mean?" Julian demanded in a surprisingly even tone, though he was giving a stony-cold glare to their enemy as he looked back. The dragon-like humanoid raised an eyebrow under his mask, and chuckled.

"And _you're_ supposed to be the _smart_ one. I was speaking English, boy, you understood me. I said he won't need it anymore. Kind of hard to use it when you're, ah, indisposed?" Forbidramon paused, for dramatic effect.  
>As he expected, the group at large seemed to lock up- Kamomon squawked and Lammon let out a little squeaking noise while the other six digimon simply curled their lips and snarled, and the humans... well...<p>

It looked as though Andrea had to try very hard not to drop Sinjmon on the ground and rush at Forbidramon again.  
>Forbidramon took noted of this, and nodded his head towards her, as though in acknowledgement.<p>

"You really need to learn to control your temper more," he said with no small amount of condescention, idly reaching back and stroking Nimon's bandaged-shut muzzle, looking then at Sinjmon. "Especially when you don't have a digimon that can, you know, _lose his mind_ on your account to fight for y-"

"**Shut up**!" Andrea and Sinjmon yelled in unison.

Forbidramon smiled yet again, and continued: "... to fight for you." He looked at the D-GEAR in his hand. "_Begged for mercy_, he did. _Really_ cliche. The snake didn't do much for him. Couldn't even reach perfect-level when Lord Era found them. Wouldn't have changed a thing, of course."  
>Toby and Lammon exchanged looks, eyes wide; the others simply became more enraged.<br>"But it's no matter, yeah?" Forbidramon said casually.

What he did next made the group at large _jump_. Forbidramon shifted the digivice into his red, monstrous hand, and in one smooth motion... crushed it.  
>The red hand began to glow bright, and he held it open, as though <em>bragging<em>- on the palm of his hand, they could see the shining tag of the Virtue talisman.

"You've got questions, don't you," he said, turning the tag over in his hand. "Especially you." He pointed at Andrea. "Why I helped you when you forced your digimon, right?" Forbidramon's tone was mocking and snide, and Andrea began to shake with rage. "Lord Era gave us specific orders. Don't let anything else destroy you. Only the Era Corps. Because if anything else gets to you..."  
>He held up the tag, held gingerly between two of his red hand's claws.<p>

"Then we lose these. The keys to Yggdrasil."

Before they could say another word, he covered the Virtue with his hand, and the appendage began to glow. He opened his hand again, and the team could plainly see the talisman begin to fuse into him. After a second, all that was left was a glowing symbol- the same insginia the kids had seen on the snake's statue back at Wisemon's castle. And then... his entire arm began to glow. It crept up, spreading across his body, until he was bathed in white light. Nimon turned its head away, as though it found the light unbearable.

When the light faded, there were a number (three) things different about their _best buddy_.  
>The first: From his shoulderblades and ripping through his jacket, all but filling the entire path of the cave, were two jet-black, tattered-looking feather-like wings- not so much feathers, but like ripped fabric cut into feathered shapes.<br>The second: from the back of his helmet-like mask, there was now a spiky mass of blonde hair, sticking out at angles, like a wild mane.  
>The third and final: where his eyes had been yellow just before, they were now an uncanny, vivid red, with pupils contracted.<p>

They were small changes, but paired with the newly deranged expression on Forbidramon's face and the shock of what they had just seen...

They barely had a moment to react, before Forbidramon spoke, looking at Nimon.

"Take care of them," he said simply.

In a fraction of a second, the strange black digimon was rushing at the group. Black smoke trailing off its body, it hissed:  
>"<strong>Dark Area<strong>..."

The black shape and the one vivid-yellow eye on Nimon's chest was the last thing the kids and digimon alike saw before everything went black.

* * *

><p>"Emily! Wake up! <em>Please<em> wake up!"  
>Kamomon's voice cut through the fuzzy dark haze that seemed to be surrounding Emily's mind, as did the feeling of his feathered hands jostling her arm.<p>

The girl cracked an eye open. The last thing she had seen was the piercing yellow eye of Nimon- and now, the first thing she saw was the big, earnest yellow eyes of her avian partner, with tears gathering in the corners near his beak.

"Oh, _geeze_, thank god you're okay," she heard Faris say from about three feet away, and Delfinimon gave a little 'yeom' of assent. "Didn't wanna be stuck out here, y'know. Alone. ... 'cept for the digimon, so not alone at all, but you know what I mean."

Emily groaned, pushing herself up into a sitting position- she couldn't remember anything for the life of her, and more importantly, she didn't recognize her surroundings at all.  
>She, Faris, Kamomon, and Delfinimon were located in a shallow little cave- more of an alcove in rock than anything, really. All around outside was an amazingly dense amount of exotic foliage and flowers- vines, bizarrely-coloured trees, the sound of insects and frogs and <em>life<em>. It was humid and hot, and a bright sun hung overhead. The sky, vivid blue, was cut with streams of data every so often, and bird-like digimon crossing overhead.

"Welcome to the Deep Jungle," Delfinimon said, spreading her fins wide as Emily came to realize her surroundings. "... yeom."

"Uhhhh," Emily said, putting a thumb to her chin, and she looked at the gratefully-smiling seagull. "... whaaat happened?"

Kamomon sighed, and ruffled his feathers, sitting down next to his human partner. "... I am of the believe that that Nimon creature teleported us."

"You're not _of the belief_, you know it's true~," Delfinimon pointed out.

"... but you and Faris were, ahhh... incapacitated," the bird continued, gesturing with his hand. "For... quite some time."

"Define 'quite some time'?" the girl asked, blinking a couple times; it was obviously a while after they had encountered Forbidramon, she realized- it had been sunset, as best they could tell, when they had met him, but...

"Tuna-fish, here," Faris said, gesturing his thumb at Delfinimon, pulling his kneeds up to his chest, "said it was two days. But I just woke up a couple hours ago, m'self, so don't worry, you're not too far behind."

"Delfinimon and I did our best to keep the two of you safe," Kamomon continued, and puffed out his chest with pride. "And we did so quite well, I should think!"

"Well, then merits all around," Emily replied with a smile, virtually hopping to her feet and looking around. "Buuuut..." She furrowed her brow a little bit, chewing on her bottom lip. She still spoke very fast, her mind apparently tossing ten thoughts around at once. "... uhm, any clue of where the others got off to?"

The three who were not Emily exchanged looks; Kamomon and Delfinimon shook their heads, and Faris shrugged. "No," the seagull admitted, kicking off the ground and flapping his wings to stay roughly on-level with his partner. "Not a sign of them. I suppose you could try your D-GEAR units?"

"Because that worked so well last time," Delfinimon chimed in.

Emily shook her head at the dolphin, but she was smiling. She pulled her D-GEAR out, turning the device - blue and white, for her - over in her hand. "I guess we were assuming it read more than just the other unit-thingies, huh?"

"Something like that," Faris said with a wave of his hand, standing up and breathing out heavily. He put his hands in his pockets, looking around. For a moment, it was relatively still, except for the distant sound of anima-_ digimon_ life stirring around them.

"I guess this really is one of the places that's held out from Era," Delfinimon said, lolloping up alongside the boy. "'Cause, I mean, we didn't get attacked by Agents once while we were waiting for you to wake up. A few digimon even helped us move you here, out of the open. Yeom."

Emily paused, nodding, and smiled. "Well, count our blessings then, mmhm?" she said with the slightest little lilt in her voice. However, she trailed off a little bit, looking at her D-GEAR again; she was lost in thought, trying to make sense of... well, anything Forbidramon had said or done. Though she was loathe to admit it, she found herself just the slightest bit unnerved by the way he had changed- but far more so by the way he had talked about the seventh child. Some part of her refused to believe it, she realized.

Some other part of her mind lit up, and she made an internal declaration to herself; whatever Forbidramon had said, that didn't mean the search was off.  
>It was just that it might be a good idea to find the others, first.<p>

She didn't realize how long she had been lost in her mind, until Faris coughed.  
>"You gonna be okay there, Em, or should I call a medic?"<p>

The girl brushed her bleached bangs out of her face, and tilted her head just slightly while she smiled.  
>Faris could almost imagine a little 'adorable' sound effect with the gesture.<p>

"Yeah!" Emily said, giving a thumbs-up. "Let's go try to find the others, so we can find the seventh, yeah?"

"Or, alternatively, what's left of him," Faris said very quietly as he picked up Delfinimon, a sort of dry smirk on his face. However, he grinned right back up at Emily- his snide little comments aside, he had a hard time arguing with the intent.  
>"Aw yeahs."<p>

* * *

><p>"Why do you keep waiting?" Nimon said in its low hiss of a voice, cocking its blind head towards Forbidramon. The two stood on a large outcropping of rock, high above most of the foliage of this part of the Deep Jungle; all they could see was a roof of dense trees. The humid air lingered even here, amplified by the unhindered sun.<p>

One red eye slid over to the side to look at his partner of sorts. "I could ask you the same thing."  
>There was a momentary pause, and Forbidramon folded his mismatched arms, his tail swaying as he looked out. "I am doing what Lord Era told me to do, and Lord Era will tell us when to act."<p>

Nimon nodded once. Forbidramon's new tattered wings, which he didn't seem yet accustomed to, extended and folded, as though he were stretching them. There was a faint buzzing noise that grew louder by the second.

* * *

><p>It turned out fairly quickly that that neither Emily nor Faris' D-GEARs managed to pick up any signals outside of their own; this initially discouraged the duo, but their digimon were quick to interject. "It only picks up for a couple miles around," Kamomon had elaborated, gesturing with a hand at the area around them as they trundled through the damp vegetation. "They could well just be out of its range."<p>

Faris, Emily, Kamomon, and Delfinimon wandered through the trees and the leaves and the giant flowers until the sun began to sink, hiding behind the thick canopy of trees. It wasn't as long as they thought- it had apparently been quite late in the afternoon when the two humans had finally stirred. It seemed that the darker it got, the louder the sounds of all kinds of life grew.

"You are looking for something?"

The sound made the small group jump in surprise, looking around for the source. They heard a chuckle, and then a thud and dust rising off the ground. Instinctively, the digimon tensed as though to prepare for battle, the kids reaching for their D-GEARs. With a shine and a shimmer, the newcomer faded into view- he had been cloaked, invisible to the kids.

He was tall, and human-like... somewhat. He was human in shape, but his entire body was covered by what seemed to be armor- armor-like exosekeleton, with segments that looked like giant rubies and strange yellow crystals. This was accentuated by big red insect eyes, long clear dragonfly wings that shone and changed colour as they moved in the fading light, bent and crooked antennae, and a mass of white... hair-like substance; it was hard to tell. Huge clawed arm-guard-like protrusions covered its forearms, and in one hand, he gripped a long javelin with a five-pointed tip made of red jewel. It was all very striking.

"Well, if we're gonna die, at least our killer's_ pretty,_" Delfinimon remarked, looking at Faris; he nodded in assent.

"You're Virtue Warriors, aren't you?" the insect-man asked suddenly, stepping closer. They stayed tense, but there was something about the way he stepped forward that seemed as though it weren't a threat. Emily and Faris looked at eachother, as though not sure what to say.  
>"You have D-GEAR units," the bug continued, sounding hopeful. "The, ah, Deep Jungle- it is not under Era's control."<p>

"Uh, yes?" Faris tried, coughing nervously.

The bug-man's eyes lit up. "Ah! Allow me to, introduce myself," he said with a flourish of his spear. "I am JewelBeemon, chieftain of the eastern-Deep-Jungle Hive. A resistance force."

"Thought hives usually had queens," Faris remarked, putting his arms akimbo with a smile.

"It's not really a hive," JewelBeemon said with a gesture of his hand, "so much as a colony. Legacy name, you know. ... but I do digress. You are indeed Virtue Warriors? Asking to make sure, you see."

Kamomon looked between Emily and JewelBeemon, and his beak split into a little smile. "You're going to ask a favor of us, aren't you?" he said after a moment, chuckling.

"Is it that obvious?"

* * *

><p>JewelBeemon led the group of four further into the woods; as they walked, led by the insect, they came to an agreement. They could put their efforts into whatever it was that he wanted, if he would - after the fact - assist them in trying to find their teammates the next day.<br>Why, Emily thought optimistically, there might even be a chance of information - if not more - regarding the seventh child.

... a girl could dream.

By the time they reached their apparent destination, the numerous moons of the Digital World had already begun their gliding trek across the sky "Never gonna get used to that," Emily remarked, surprisingly cheerful, as they approached. It was another cave, set in another big outcrop of rock; this one had the lights inside, and a tunnel seemed to trail off upwards into the cliff.

"Certainly a darn lot of cliffs in this place," Faris said, pulling one side of his mouth into a sort of smirking, thoughtful expression. Emily nodded, looking up.  
>Kamomon did the same. The bird narrowed his eyes as he looked up the wall. He shook his head, and before he knew it, the other three were being lead by JewelBeemon into the cave. Kamomon took another look before he followed.<p>

It was too steep and too tall to see all the way to the the top, but for just a second, Kamomon could have sworn he had seen two dark shapes.

"You coming, Kamomon?" Emily said from the mouth of the cave. Kamomon nodded his head, made a little 'Mm!' noise, and scurried up alongside.

JewelBeemon was talking as they walked, but it got drowned out by a low, loud, droning buzz the closer and further they went. They had been tuning him out a lot of the time - he had a knack for repeating himself and digressing - and it was harder than ever to pay attention over the noise.  
>Even though it was a bit of an uphill climb, and it took a while for that, the walk itself wasn't long- and they quickly found out what it was that made the noise.<p>

"_Whoa_, yeom."

At the top of the incline, it opened to a _vast_ room- the size of a football field and half again over, the domed ceiling reaching up to a hundred feet above. There were the same lights as ever, except... grouped together in strange, bunched shapes, like clutches of the circular little light-soruces sticking to the floor and the walls at random places, flooding the room with the strange red light.  
>That wasn't what made the noise.<p>

What made the noise was more every kind of giant bug the four could care to imagine. Giant beetles, giant spiders and caterpillars and dragonflies, and more creatures that looked like insects deformed to human proportions. Some were nestled into alcoves all along the walls and even the ceiling. They were eating massive amounts of fruit and what looked like honey and flowers and leaves.  
>But what most of them were doing was attending to wounds and injuries, putting on hasty plant poultices and using vines and leaves to tie things up. Despite how many it looked like to start with, it felt like there were huge open spaces, places where perhaps something was supposed to be, but wasn't.<p>

"We were, attacked today," JewelBeemon explained as soon as he noticed the group's awed silence. "A mob of digimon, led by a big black digimon with a bandaged face."

"Nimon," Emily and Kamomon said as one, looking at eachother.

"It's the first we've had any trouble from what we assume is Era," JewelBeemon continued; it was unclear if he had heard their remark at all. "The Hive is..." He paused, as though searching for words that never came.

"Uneasy?" Emily provided, bouncing uneasily on the balls of her feet.

JewelBeemon nodded his head. "A number of our, ah, number... have been talking of surrender."

"That easily!" Faris yelped, cocking an eyebrow and almost scowling in disbelief.

Their new ally sighed, shaking his head. "We suffered major damages. More than half of the Hive has been injured. And another quarter..." With his jewel spear, the leader bug gestured towards a somewhat distant little alcove. The kids and partner digimon had to crane their necks to see properly, but when they did, they understood; guarded carefully was a huge pile of digitama.

"They are losing hope. They are, ah, starting to believe that..." he paused, and sighed. "That the Virtue Warriors do not exist."

Then, JewelBeemon stepped in front of the small group. He suddenly slammed the bottom of his spear onto the rocky ground, and his dragonfly-like wings began to vibrate. This created a buzzing so loud, it made everyone else in the room silence immediately; if they didn't hear it, the brilliant colours of the translucent wings shifting in the light would catch their attention just as well.  
>With a clack and a clatter, countless insect heads turned to look.<p>

In a surprisingly booming voice for one of his stature - Emily could plainly see bugs the size of a truck, and momentarily wondered why this was their leader - JewelBeemon began to speak.  
>"I know we have suffered a great loss today. Regardless, the Deep Jungle is one of the only Areas that remains in this world, free of Era's influence. We cannot surrender it this easily. We have protected it for a hundred years, ever since the one named Era appeared in our world."<p>

Suddenly, a tremendous grey stag beetle, with black hair and red markings, and tremendous tusk-like protrusions near its mouth, stepped forward.  
>"Yeah, but we've never suffered so great a loss at once!" it snarled, clacking together its huge claws.<p>

JewelBeemon gripped his spear with both hands, and shook his head. "But we are not alone. With great threats come great allies. I understand that some of you have doubted the existence of the Virtue Warriors." He now stepped aside, and gestured to Faris and Emily; Faris had picked Delfinimon into his arms, and Kamomon flapped his arms idly, all but hovering next to Emily.  
>There was a buzz and a lot of hushed (and not so hushed) talking amongst themselves, almost immediately. They silenced themselves when their leader began to speak again.<p>

"They are not a full group. They have been separated from the rest of their party by an enemy, and they are still missing their final member entirely. If you are expecting them to come in and protect the entire Digital World from Era in a day, you're mistaken."

"Obviously," the grey beetle from before spat contemptuously.

"Make us sound real good, yeah," Faris mumbled; Emily giggled at her teammate's remark.

JewelBeemon ignored all comments, but held his tongue until they had silenced themselves. Once there was an anticipating silence over the room again:  
>"But they are the greatest defense the Digital World has to offer. We will help them find their teammates and comrades tomorrow, as soon as the sun comes up. We have seen that we cannot fight Era's forces by ourselves. They cannot do it themselves, as well."<br>Another pause. There was no sound, but JewelBeemon turned his attention. Though they didn't physically see any evidence of it, the group could almost sense JewelBeemon's eyes narrowing. "Okuwamon?

The giant grey beetle stepped closer. "I don't buy it. I think," he said, his voice throaty and wet and awful, "if they're the Virtue Warriors, we should let them handle it. Spare ourselves any more casualties and just surrender."

There was a gasp and a hushed whisper throughout the huge cavern; JewelBeemon's wings began to vibrate again, and he flew over to Okuwamon. He was dwarfed in comparison, but the huge bug took a step back.

"You can leave the Hive," the humanoid insect said in what was both a very loud voice and a deathly quiet tone, "if you don't want to support it."  
>Okuwamon said nothing. Perhaps if he'd had visible eyes, he'd have death-glared at his colony's leader. He simply bared his rows of sharp teeth, spread large bug wings, and made for the exit. A small number of smaller digimon looked at eachother, then followed.<p>

Jewelbeemon looked after them, then to the still-vast number of bugs remaining. He nodded once, then looked to the humans and their digimon. "I apologize. Okuwamon has never exactly played well with the rest of the Hive. Perhaps now would be a good time to sleep?"

"Sure," Kamomon said quickly, nodding his head. The four were lead into one of the smaller alcoves. There was a mass of bedding made of leaves and grasses, and while it wasn't the most civilized of beds...

"Beats sleeping on dirt," Faris reasoned.

The group of four sat on the ground for a while, listening to the droning hum around them. Emily pulled her knees up to her chest anad sat, seemingly engrossed with listening to all the things around her. Kamomon struck up a conversation with a passing digimon - a Wormmon, it was called - while Faris and Delfinimon made their usual brand of comments about everything.

It was hard to tell how long it was, but eventually, it seemed that most of the room had gone to sleep. A few remaining lights stayed on, but the huge clusters of the red lights died off. Emily was lost in thought wondering how they controlled such things, but Kamomon tugged on her sleeve.  
>"I think it's probably a good idea to go to sleep," he suggested. "They said as soon as the sun comes up, we'd search."<p>

"Huh?" the girl said, shaking her head to bring herself out of her reverie. "Oh! Yeah."

"I feel like we just got ourselves involved in something, yeom," Delfinimon said after a moment. "Again. Yeom."

"Yes, well," Kamomon said, shrugging his shoulders and smiling. "We at least have some support in getting the group back together come tomorrow."

That was good enough for the boy and his dolphin, and they were quickly out like lights. Regardless... while Faris and Delfinimon slept, Kamomon and Emily sat up for a little while, talking in hushed whispers.

"I don't get it," the girl said, shaking her head. "I don't get why that beetle-thing would..."

"Some digimon don't have as strong of... morals as others," Kamomon said, but his eyelids drooped. "Some have no loyalty." He seemed downright indignant as he said that, clenching his hands into fists.

"Not you, though," Emily said after a second, smiling at the seagull. He smiled back.

"Or you."

Emily laughed, shaking her head. "Me? Nah." The bird looked at her, his big yellow eyes scrutinizing his partner.

* * *

><p>Delfinimon had been right. They had gotten themselves into something.<p>

A great crashing and rumbling woke the entire cavern up. Echoing through the cave was drone and a buzz and yells of surprise.  
>And of pain.<br>If one moved quickly from inside the cavern to just outside, they would see a tremendous chaotic battle. The sun had only just barely begun to rise, casting only the palest of light. Almost all of its combatants were bugs of all sizes- except for two.

"**Flintlock Shock**!"

"**Tail Saw**!"

Of course, Kamomon and Delfinimon had almost instantly risen to their Adult forms to manage it- it was only a few, a handful of adult-levels, and between themselves and the bugs of the Hive, it was hardly much to worry about, but it was chaos. It was almost impossible to tell which digimon were attacking and which weren't. The bugs that had left with Okuwamon, it seemed, had come back with a few reinforcements.

"What's going on!" Emily called to Kaizokumon, cupping her hands over her mouth.

"I dannae know!" the pirate bird yelled back, solidly shoving his foot into the back of a giant spider digimon as Shayumon slammed her body into what seemed to be a tremendous bee.

"Traitors!" JewelBeemon's voice cried out over the cacaphony, but he was cut off quickly.  
>One giant grey foot stepped down on the leader of the hive, the rest of the giant bug following to the ground with a dull thud that shook the earth.<p>

Okuwamon stood, bearing down on JewelBeemon, clacking his claws together menacingly.  
>Emily and Faris' D-GEAR units began to glow.<p>

_Okuwamon. Perfect-level Insect digimon. It attacks with great accuracy, and its claws can cut through diamonds with its Double Scissor Claw attack. Incredibly destructive, its other combat move is its Beetle Horn Attack, attacking with no rhyme or reason._

"Sounds like a real charmer to have 'round the home," Faris mumbled, looking around the cave.

Okuwamon turned its head to look at the children and their partners, who came to rest near their respective humans. "And the so-called Virtue Warriors," the great beetle said with no small amount of disdain in his voice. He lifted his foot off of JewelBeemon, who didn't exactly seem to be in great shape to be getting up, and stepped towards the four. All other digimon seemed perfectly willing to clear out of the way to make way.  
>"I don't know where you were when we were having half our colony destroyed," Okuwamon growled, and then <em>smiled<em>, "but I've been waiting for an opportunity to do this for a while."

"Y'eh're a mutineer, then?" Kaizokumon growled, grabbing his pistol. "I dannae take kindly to that, y'know. A 'mon stays loyal to his crew, no matter what, aye."

"Shayumon!" Faris yelled, suddenly. The shark looked around, and snarled as another humanoid bug was bearing down on her. She whipped herself around, her tail-blade glowing, to deflect the attack, but she began to breathe heavily.

"Faris, I don't think I can go Perfect," she said, shaking her head. "There's too many of them. We should just... book it, yeom."

The boy with green hair groaned, massaging his temples. It made sense, but... he cast a look at Emily, a look fairly plainly reading _what-do?_.

"We can't!" Emily said suddenly, clenching her hands into fists. Her voice was wavering. She looked at Faris. "I mean, we can't- they asked for our help, right? So we've gotta see it through. You can't just..." she paused, looking to the side, "let someone down like that." She looked back up, at Kaizokumon, who was slowly backing away from the oncoming Okuwamon.

"**Double Scissor Claw**!" the giant beetle announced, suddenly flinging one arm forth and clamping his claw around the pirate bird. Kaizokumon began to squawk with pain, the tight claw constricting his breathing- and felt like it was crushing his body.

"Kaizokumon!" Shayumon yelled, throwing herself at the beetle's arm.

"Do you wanna be made into _shark steak_!" Faris yelped the second he saw his partner moving to attack.

Okuwamon growled, looking at the boy. "No comments from the peanut gallery, please?"  
>And then Shayumon connected, and he promptly dropped Kaizokumon.<p>

The bird tumbled out of the way, breathing heavy and labored, eyes closed. Emily frowned, rushing to his side.  
>"Are you okay?" she asked quickly, chewing on her lip. "I mean- we can leave if you-"<p>

"Never, Emmy," Kaizokumon replied, cracking one eye open and a smile pulling at his beak. "We're going to see it to the end, aye? The proper thing to do?" He tilted his head to be able to look at his partner straight. "I mean, yeh cannae let someone down."

The girl paused for a moment, and then grinned.  
>"To the end," she confirmed.<p>

It was at that moment that like the others before her, her D-GEAR began to rattle, hard. The plume of light burst from the little device and into the bird, who actually squawked with surprise as it did so. The symbol shining in bright blue sunk into him, encasing him in the same brilliant glow. Okuwamon even stopped, seeming awed.

_**Virtuous Digivolution, begin.**_

"Kaizokumon, virtuous digivolve to..." Kaizokumon quickly became quite a bit larger than before- quite to match the size of the beetle. His human-like stature was quickly lost, deformed until he took on the form of an actual bird. His attire all vanished, as feathers sprouted out of arms that were twisting and turning to be proper wings. His bent tailfeathers straightened out, lengthened, like a banner behind him. Golden rings inscribed with odd lettering appeared around his ankles, feet, and neck, and the base of his tail; Long feathers grew on the sides of his face.  
>In the pirate-like bird's wake was a tremendous great, shockingly-white bird, tailfeathers swaying as though there was an ocean breeze. He let out a loud <em>kreeaw<em>.

"**Ospreymon**!"

Almost before there was any time to respond, the now-large bird rushed at Okuwamon, letting out a seagull-cry screech.

"**Beetle Horn Attack**!" Okuwamon snarled, and began thrashing his head and claws about wildly; the attack rang true, throwing Ospreymon off of his course and into the air.  
>The nice thing was that he was, in fact, a bird. A few beats of his large wings were all it took to stabilize him in the air, higher than most of the digimon around them were scuffling and fighting.<p>

"Get back here," Okuwamon spat, not really meant to be heard, as he began to beat his giant wings and rose into the air after Ospreymon.  
>The bird was ready.<p>

"**Gale Storm**!" Ospreymon cawed, flapping his wings hard. From all around him, in the trees and from the ground below, debris began to pick up as his wings beat up a small twister, waiting for Okuwamon to reach his level. When the bug had gotten close enough, Ospreymon opened his mouth once more and breathed out what appeared to be a flurry of ice and snow, and then... Okuwamon got soundly blind-sided by the whirlwind, straight into a tree.  
>The tree snapped straight in half, but Okuwamon seemed a tad dazed- or at least irate.<p>

"There's y'er problem, laddie," Ospreymon taunted, clawing at the air. "Y'eh can't attack from a distance."

Emily yelled something from below about "KICK HIS" something. It was indistinct, but Faris and Shayumon both turned to look at her and snorted with laughter. She seemed not to notice.

"**Seagull Dive**!" Ospreymon yelled, and suddenly threw himself at Okuwamon. A glowing aura surrounded him a moment before he connected with the beetle, and with the satisfying sound of contact, he bowed his head back and lifted the beetle with him into the air.

"Incoming!" Shayumon yelled, smirking, to any digimon who happened to be right under the aerial fight- and a second or two later, Okuwamon fell to the ground with a tremendous thud and the breaking of trees. Even through the foliage, they could see the brilliant shine of the insect turning to a digitama once again.

"I'd make a joke about size and falling harder," Faris said, smiling, "but I'll refrain."

"Thanks," Emily said, but she couldn't stop herself grinning, as Ospreymon lowered himself as gingerly as he could to the ground again. She placed a hand on the bird's wing.

* * *

><p>Before entirely too long, the Okuwamon's egg had been retrieved, and brought back to the mouth of the cave. A number of small caterpillar-like digimon were aiding JewelBeemon.<p>

"Uhm, are you... still okay to help us?" Shayumon asked, looking at the bug.

"Shayumon!" Ospreymon hissed out of the side of his beak (it was hard to be subtle at his size), shaking his head; JewelBeemon laughed.

"It's just a little injury, nothing major," the humanoid bug said, shaking his body. "If you'll just, ahm..." he looked at the bugs around himself. "Give us a moment?"

"Oh! Oh, of course," Emily said chipperly, nodding; the insects huddled back into the cave briefly.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes after, there was a small <em>air force<em> moving through the sky of the Deep Jungle. Faris, Delfinimon (who had degenerated to child form, naturally), and Emily all piled on to Ospreymon's back with room to spare; any digimon of the Hive who hadn't been too injured (and there were not many, at this point) flew alongside, keeping eyes on the ground, occasionally dipping into the canopy of trees, scouring.

Perhaps a half-hour passed this way; Emily and Faris were making idle chit-chat, while Delfinimon was asleep like a bag of potatoes. Suddenly, a digimon (whom the kids had been told was called a Stingmon) made a deep thrumming, buzzing noise, and then cried out:  
>"Over here!"<p>

Wasting no time at all, the group - with Ospreymon and his _cargo_ in the lead - lowered themselves into the trees. And indeed- in a small clearing, wide awake and staring up through the trees, stood Julian, Toby, Iguamon, and Lammon.

"Hey!" Emily called from atop Ospreymon's back as they landed, followed by a number of insects. "Where you guys been?"


	18. Chapter 18: Fracture

_Author's Note__: Ugh! So sorry about the delay. :T However, I'm uploading two episodes today, so maybe that will make up for it?_

* * *

><p>In a fraction of a second, the strange black digimon was rushing at the group. Black smoke trailing off its body, it hissed:<br>"**Dark Area**..."

The black shape and the one vivid-yellow eye on Nimon's chest was the last thing the kids and digimon alike saw before everything went black.

* * *

><p>It was far too bright.<p>

That was the first thought to cross Julian's mind as his eye cracked open, staring straight up into the sun. It was also too warm, too humid...  
>Too quiet.<p>

There was noise- the noise one heard when one was stuck out in the middle of nowhere. A droning buzz, a nearby stream... but there was no milling around, no chatter, no talking.

"You're okay?" Iguamon's voice said from beside him, and the boy turned his head - still lying on the ground. The dinosaur was seated on a rock, almost entirely immobile. Only one of his red eyes was open, peering at his partner. A totally blank face and even, clipped tone of voice was betrayed by the slightest glint in the digimon's eye.

"Oh, thank goodness," said another voice, this one feminine, from behind Julian. He didn't have to look to know it was Lammon. There was a waver in her gentle voice.  
>Julian found that his body felt a bit heavy, but with a bit of effort, he pushed himself up to sit. He looked to the sheep, prepared to speak, but before he said a word, his eyebrows shot up. Right alongside Lammon lay Toby- from the looks of him, unconscious. The younger boy had one hand clutched to his stomach reflexively.<p>

Julian furrowed his brow. "What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Iguamon said, standing up and walking around to be in front of Julian.

The boy paused for a second. Of course, the last thing he could recall was that strange digimon attacking, and then the feeling of being hit with a pillow with a concrete core. He furrowed his brow, and slowly, he began to speak.  
>"Humans probably don't take Digimon attacks very well," he reasoned, looking at Lammon; she shook her head.<p>

"It teleported us," Iguamon said. "Lammon and I got out okay. You and Toby less so."

"That explains why shorty's looks so out of sorts," Julian mumbled; Iguamon and Lammon exchanged looks.

"Uhm... actually," the sheep said slowly, and shook her head, "that was... well... you two have been..."

"Unconscious for about two days," Iguamon cut in, in his usual ridiculously-blunt manner, folding his arms. Lammon gave him a sort of concerned look; he either didn't notice, or ignored it if he did Julian visibily blanched, but he did his best to keep an even expression, looking around as Lammon began to explain again.

"We're in the Deep Jungle. As far as I know, this is one of the areas that's free of Era control- we haven't been attacked by a single Agent," she said. "... but, uhm, not all non-Agent digimon are nice." She cast a look at her partner, frowning.

"Fantastic," Julian muttered. After a second, he pushed himself to his feet, and walked over to Toby. Carefully, he moved the hand of Toby's that was placed on his stomach- he furrowed his brow further when it and his hoodie were damp and stained a sticky red-brown.  
>Lammon and Iguamon watched, curious as to what the boy was doing. Taking only a moment to consider the fact that this would probably stain the back of his vest, Julian picked up the younger boy as gently as he could manage. Maneuvering so as to have Toby's arms draped around his shoulders, he supported the younger boy's legs until Toby was being carried in an unconscious piggy-back ride of sorts.<p>

When Julian noted the digimon looking at him, he would have shrugged if not for his passenger. "We can't just sit around and wait. If the others aren't around, we have to find them."  
>The sheep and dinosaur looked at him; a look passed between Iguamon and Julian, no words said, but once again, something silent passing between them. Without another word, Julian turned his back and walked into the trees. Lammon went along with no delay; Iguamon hesitated just a second, before he followed suit.<p>

* * *

><p>Holding his D-GEAR in front of him, staring at the screen almost more than he was looking where he was going, Julian spoke very little as they walked. Iguamon, in his usual way, remained similarly laconic, and Lammon found herself rather discomforted by the whole matter. She found herself continually looking to her partner on Julian's back.<p>

"Julian?" the sheep said, after perhaps a half-hour of wandering through the thick foliage.

"Mm?"

Lammon paused- not as they walked, as she kept the same brisk pace that the boy was setting, but merely in her speech - for a moment. "I'm, um, not trying to criticize, but why don't you want to wait for Toby to wake up before we do this?"

Julian paused- this time, in walking. He cast a look at Lammon, and his expression was perfectly even. "If we waited around when we could be searching, we'd be sitting ducks. The longer we're separated from the others, the less of a chance we stand."

That was all he had to say about it; Julian fell remarkably quiet again after. Lammon's eyelids drooped a mite, and she struck up a quiet conversation with Iguamon. The dinosaur, for his part, actually did put himself to speak with her, albeit in low tones.

The three walked for over an hour, making unsurprisingly little progress, eventually passing into a small clearing in the trees; a small blobby digimon sitting near a fallen log quickly ducked inside of it as the small group entered.  
>"Lammon," Julian said after a second, "you said that this place wasn't under Era control yet?"<p>

"Uhm... yes?"

"Fantastic." Julian gingerly set Toby down on the ground - Lammon rushed in to support him and gently lay him down - and padded over to the log, Iguamon in close pursuit. He merely stood, waiting. Perhaps five seconds later, a big red eye peered out from a hole in the log, looking up at the waiting boy.  
>A small, bouncy pink blob slowly edged its way out of the log. It had a mouth full of crooked, protruding teeth, and two long antennae-like extensions on its head (body?), and two big red eyes; but again, as many small digimon they had encountered, it was largely unremarkable.<p>

"Hello," Iguamon said, nodding his head once in acknowledgement. "Koromon, I presume?"

"... Yeah. Hey," the little digimon said warily, cocking a brow. She looked rather suspicious, and had one side of her mouth curled up into a sort of grimace.

"We'll not bother you long," Julian said plainly, putting up one hand with palm out as though to physically stop any remarks. "We just want to know if you've seen anyone odd come through here recently. Or anyone in the area."

The little pink Koromon looked up between the two, then cast a look over at Lammon and Toby. "Why?" she asked, still looking suspicious.

"We're looking for friends," Iguamon replied. "We are..." the dinosaur paused, and looked between his partner, and the boy and sheep behind. "A fraction of the Virtue Warriors."

At that, Koromon's brow shot up in surprise.

"Really, now?"  
>Julian (holding back an exasperated sigh) held up his D-GEAR, flourishing it a little bit with a flick of his wrist as he did.<p>

"Kid back there is the same, but he's in poor sorts." Julian jerked his thumb at Toby. "We got separated from our teammates. Have you seen anyone that looks like us?"

Koromon looked between them, and then thought for a moment. "Nope. Same thing I told the weirdo who came through here earlier," she said decisively, puffing out her cheeks.

"Weirdo?" Lammon piped up, blinking.

Koromon tilted her entire body to look at the sheep, and then nodded - a sort of bobbing motion. "Yeah. Tall. Arms didn't match. Looked really weird. Kept muttering stuff about Era."

"Sounds familiar," Iguamon all but drawled, folding his arms. "When was this?"

"Yesterday," the pink digimon responded without a second of hesitation. Julian looked at his partner, and raised an eyebrow.

"Forbidramon was that close, then," the boy said, and the dinosaur nodded once. Julian proceeded to hiss something uncouth, shaking his head. "We're lucky, then. Great."

Iguamon nodded, then looked at Koromon. "And then so are you," he pointed out, extending one claw at her, "if he didn't delete you." Julian nodded, putting a hand to his chin in thought.

"Might be that he doesn't get a lot out of absorbing little digimon like that," he proposed idly; Iguamon nodded his assent. From behind them, Toby made a faint groaning noise, and the two whipped around. (Koromon herself tilted herself to look, again.) Julian said after a moment, "is he waking up?"

The sheep gently nudged her partner with her nose; when he didn't respond, she shook her head. "I don't think so. You both did that on and off the entire time..."

Julian grimaced, but nodded. "Thanks anyway," he said, giving a look down to Koromon.

"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome."  
>With that, she retreated into her log again.<p>

"Well, what'd we get from that," the boy muttered, sighing as he knelt down to pick Toby up again.

"We learned that Forbidramon's in the area," Lammon pointed out gently. "That's not good news, but it's good to know."

"So we've learned that we've got to find the others soon or we're screwed," Julian surmised, pulling the younger boy full onto his back. "So let's get a move on it."

* * *

><p>They wandered until the sun had begun to go down several hours later, sinking below the trees and casting the entire area in a dusky red-gold hue. It would have been very pretty if Julian had been looking up at all, his eyes still solidly glued to his D-GEAR.<p>

"No signal," he said as they walked into another small clearing, the first thing he had said in quite some time, as the last of the light began to dim. He looked at the two digimon trailing behind him. "We could keep looking into the night, but I don't really think you two would want to."

"We've been awake far longer than you have," Lammon said; Iguamon nodded once.

"Mm. Well. ... shorty's getting kind of heavy, anyway," Julian said with just a hint of jest in his voice. He knelt down and set Toby down, propping him up near a tree; Lammon was quick to trot up to his side, laying herself down on his lap.  
>Iguamon settled down into the dirt, nestled between the wide roots of the tree next to that; Julian remained standing. He watched as the two digimon quickly fell asleepa s the light rapidly faded.<p>

Only now, in the last vestiges did he realize how harried the partners looked.

He pulled one lip back into a sort of grimace, and taking a seat opposite them, he leaned against the trunk of the tree and put his hands behind his head.

Almost nothing happened for quite a while. There was a deep buzzing noise in the distance, but he chose to disregard it - if it wasn't harming him yet, it wasn't harming him yet.  
>Several more hours passed in complete tranquility; even Julian was beginning to drift off simply for lack of stimulus. His eyes were beginning to droop closed when there was a sudden noise.<p>

"Hn?"Julian cracked one of his eyes open, looking across the small clearing to see Toby slowly rousing himself, stretching out his arms and making little noises as he gently tried to dislodge Lammon.  
>"Hey, shorty," Julian said dryly, keeping one eye closed. Toby jumped, quite on-edge until his blurry vision cleared and he saw the elder boy sitting there.<p>

"O-oh. Hi, Julian," Toby said tentatively, wincing as he sat up, and instinctively placing a hand on his abdomen.

"Good to know you're not dead," the older of the two remarked - ever the sympathetic one - and then yawned.

"What... happened?" Toby said slowly, quietly, frowning.

Julian sighed. "We got separated from the others. Probably by that freak digimon's attack... partners said I was out for two days, and you were just out another half of one. I've been carrying you."

"Oh!" Toby responded, taking all of this in one point at a time. "Oh. Well... ... thank you!"

Julian all but snorted. "It's no big deal. Boy-scout would have done it if you had ended up with him, I bet, or either of the girls... Faris would've, too."  
>It took the younger a moment to realize who it was that Julian was referring to when he had said 'Boy-scout', but process of elimination ruled that it was Simon; regardless.<p>

"But it was still a nice thing to do," Toby pointed out, rubbing the back of his head. "So thanks!" Julian raised an eyebrow, then shook his head and closed his eye, saying nothing. Sensing this, Toby made another remark, as innocently as was his wont.  
>"You know, you don't need to do the whole 'cool older brother' thing all the time."<p>

Almost instantly, both of Julian's eyes sprung open; Toby almost recoiled. "No comments from the peanut gallery, kid," the older said, his face even and his tone cold.

Toby spoke gently, then, choosing his words carefully. "I just mean, I have an older brother. Older than you, even. And he always tries to do that thing where he tries to act really cool and, like... distant, around me." He drooped slightly, in tone and in posture, as he spoke. "But when he's around his friends, he doesn't act like that."

Julian kept an eye on Toby, but said nothing. The younger of the two kept talking, again. "So, I mean, we're... teammates, right? So you don't have to do that. At least maybe not when your brother isn't around," he added with a little hopeful smile.

"I don't need you to give me advice, sorry," Julian replied, shaking his head. "It's not some act to look _cool_. I just don't really care."

Toby frowned again. "That's... kind of a sad way to look at things, isn't it?"

The older of the two paused for just an instant, before he heaved a sigh and shook his head. "Wait until we're alone to unleash the Saturday morning cartoon morals, why don't you?"

"Well, you've barely said a word to me, 'cept as to the group, since we got here," Toby replied with sudden zeal, sounding a little indignant, putting an arm out as though to signify the entire digital world. "Probably wouldn't get a chance otherwise."

Julian's eyes narrowed just a bit, for just a second. "Look. Kid. Toby. I don't_ dislike_ you or anything, I just don't need some sort of lecture. Okay?"

"But that doesn't explain why you've been so... uhm, detatched? ... even before you knew anything about any of us!"

There was a slight pause before Julian responded.

"I have reasons, and I don't need to share them with the world."

Toby frowned deeply. "I'm not the world, y'know."

Julian didn't say anything and pushed himself to his feet. He put his hands in his pockets, turned his back, and said over his shoulder: "Keep watch. I'll be back in a bit."  
>Toby could only watch as Julian stepped away and into the trees, until Lammon stirred.<p>

"You're awake," Toby said quietly, looking down at the sheep on his lap.

"So are you," she pointed out, smiling tiredly, until she caught sight of the retreating boy. "... what happened?" Lammon said, looking up at her partner with large purple eyes.

Both boy and sheep almost jumped out of their skin as Iguamon spoke from beside: "You may have hit a sore spot," he said quietly, watching his partner. "... follow if you want." With that, the dinosaur stood, stretched, and made to follow his partner at a leisurely pace.

* * *

><p>Julian didn't notice his partner coming up behind him; he continued treading quietly through the jungle foliage, hands in his pockets, eyes straight ahead, in all but a straight line. He remained looking ahead, totally steady, as Iguamon spoke up.<p>

"What was that about?"

The boy paused, and turned around to look at his partner. "Figures you were awake," he remarked, tossing a just-so-slightly wry look over his shoulder.

"You're avoiding the question, Julian," Iguamon pointed out, gesturing with one claw. For a moment, the human was taken aback, before he chuckled.

"You're really like a carbon copy of me, aren't you?"

The dinosaur smiled wryly, and shrugged as he folded his arms. "Not quite, but we're partners for a reason."

The boy paused for a moment, rubbed the back of his head, and searched for the words.  
>"The kid reminds me of my brother," he said after a great delay, and he looked to the side to avoid looking Iguamon in the eye.<p>

"Faris?" Iguamon said, cocking a brow- he wasn't seeing it. Almost before he finished saying the name, Julian shook his head, and leaned his back against the nearest tree.

"No, not Far'. Shorty'd have to be about ten times louder and full of bad jokes to remind me of _him_."  
>Iguamon looked up at his partner, face impassive, but learly waiting for an answer. Julian continued.<br>"... you know why Faris and I don't have the same last name, right? I went with our mom, and he went with our dad. And our mom remarried less than a year after Faris and dad moved away." He stuffed his hands into his pockets again, and breathed out. "... Kid's name's Seth. He's six. Looks a lot like Shorty, except... even shorter. Same attitude, though."  
>Pause.<p>

"I don't like the kid - Seth, I mean - very much. Y'know. I guess it's still just me being bitter."

Iguamon gave his partner a long, hard look. "Is Faris aware of this?"

Julian hesitated, and rubbed the back of his head. "Y'mean does he know about Seth?" The dinosaur nodded. "... yeah, no. Far as I know, Far' has no idea the kid exists. Whenever we go to visit, the kid stays at home with his dad."

Iguamon looked at Julian long and hard, and then, after a pause, said:  
>"And you're distancing yourself from Toby because he reminds you of Seth, in turn reminding you of-"<p>

"Things," Julian cut him off, and shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I'm not as great as the whole objectivity thing as I'd like to be, y'know?" He breathed out heavily, and then chuckled just a bit as he looked at his D-GEAR, turning the device over in his hand.  
>"I'm starting to think these whole virtue things are meant to be some sort of... saturday-morning cartoon moral, yeah?"<p>

"They say Yggdrasil works in mysterious ways," Iguamon said, his voice solemn but with a just the barest glint of jest in his eye. Julian smirked. "But that said, we should return to the others before-"

"Guys!"

Iguamon was cut off by Toby's voice, and quick footsteps crunching on leaves and twigs.

"Timing is impeccable," Julian remarked dryly before Toby stumbled into sight, almost doubled over and breathing heavy, and the older boy's eyebrows shot up. "What's going on, shorty?"

Toby may or may not have said something about 'stop calling me that', but he caught his breath and stood up somewhat straighter, wrapping a hand around his injured abdomen.  
>"Back at the- camp thing," he huffed, indicating the direction with his free hand. "We got, attacked, and- whoa!"<br>Toby didn't have time to finish his sentence as Julian immediately strode forward, unceremoniously picking Toby up onto his back. He cast a look at Iguamon, who nodded once, and both boy-toting-boy and dinosaur took off like bolts.

Though Julian didn't notice it, Toby gave him a sort of bewildered look.

* * *

><p>They didn't have to get too close again to realize what the problem was. A number of trees were felled and lying on the ground, seemingly crushed as by a giant foot.<br>Crushed by a giant foot, indeed.

An entire meandering path was carved out through the foliage, and its creator was plain to see. Being assailed by glowing white orbs of light and roaring loud enough to shake the leave was what seemed to be a tremendous dragon-like creature, made entirely of bone, with a sole pulsating organ in its ribcage; quickly, Julian (carrying Toby still) and Iguamon backed into the trees, staying to the sidelines to watch.  
>Both Toby and Julian's D-GEAR units began to glow, and that electronic voice chimed as though it were the most casual thing in the world:<p>

_SkullGreymon. Perfect-level skeleton digimon. Putting too much focus on fighting in life, its battle instinct continues to animate its bones, its very existence - and its devastating Dark Shot - a threat to the safety around it._

Once it was done speaking, they saw another digimon. Darting around the beast was, in fact, Nimbimon. She leapt into the air and was caught by her cloud, narrowly dodging unleashed a barrage of explosive attacks, the skeletal creature releasing missile after missile from a cavity mounted on its spine.

"**Orb Bomb**!" the sheep's voice cried, the spheres around her neck glowing brilliantly as they released another round of attack; the giant monster merely batted its hand and snarled, even as it stumbled backwards. Nimbimon's pink eyes fell on the half-hidden two boys and the dinosaur.  
>She furrowed her brow, and muttered low to SkullGreymon, all but sarcastic:<br>"Don't go anywhere, now."

With that, she abandoned her cloud entirely. The sheep gallopped right at the other three, breathing heavily as she came to a stop.

"Thank goodness," she panted, shaking her head and looking forlorn.

"What's going on?" Iguamon said slowly, his body tensed and ready to strike the moment the chance arose. His tail twitched even as Toby's perfect-level partner spoke.

"We were attacked," the hooved digimon said succinctly, looking out of the corner of her eye; her cloud had seemed to gain a mind of its own, or was being controlled remotely by her, as it was darting around to distract SkullGreymon.  
>"I had Toby let me digivolve and then go to find you. He just... came out of nowhere."<p>

Julian furrowed his brow. "It attacks with that bomb thing on its back?"

Nimbimon nodded once. Julian cast a look over at the skeletal creature, and he knelt to let Toby off of his back.

"Stay hidden," he instructed the younger boy, and immediately turned to Iguamon.  
>A nod, and then a brilliant flash of light.<p>

"Iguamon, kickstart digivolve to... Velocimon!"

The now far larger dinosaur stooped down, and Julian neatly hoisted himself onto his partner's back, carefully placing himself quite near the dino's shoulders, above his spikes.

Nimbimon nudged Toby with her nose. "You seem dismayed," she remarked; Toby said nothing. The sheep frowned, and turned to look at Julian and Velocimon- but the two had already taken off, rushing at SkullGreymon.

"You have a plan, I presume?" Velocimon said, taking a sharp turn into the trees as SkullGreymon began to turn to look in their direction. They kept moving, small trees and huge flowers having no choice but to make way.

"For a given value of _plan_," Julian admitted, holding fast and all but lying belly-down on his partner's back. "More like an idea." The dinosaur digimon said nothing, but made a small noise to indicate for Julian to continue.  
>"That thing in its chest is probably a weak spot. All you need to do is get to it."<p>

With a rustle, they burst out of the trees, Velocimon's long stride carrying them towards SkullGreymon at worrying speeds, coming in from a blind spot.

"Hold tight," Velocimon muttered. "**Fast Strike**!"  
>Julian had to dig his hands into Velocimon's hair to stay on-board, so to speak. Different from usual, the dinosaur kicked off the ground. His powerful legs carried him right towards SkullGreymon's ribcage; his head (or, his skull mask) collided with bone, and the pair began to fall down to earth, almost completely stopped.<p>

"**Nimbus Crash**!" a voice from behind called out, and before they could hit the ground, Velocimon and passenger found themselves landing on Nimbimon's cloud and travelling away from SkullGreymon very quickly- just in time, as one of the missiles on its back launched with a low, indeterminite growl that could only be assumed to be its calling its attack. Obviously, not one of the more verbal digimon.

Nimbimon herself ran up alongside the cloud as it began to get sufficiently far away, trotting to a stop alongside it. She waited quietly while dinosaur and boy realigned themselves.

Julian, righting himself, looked at the sheep, and sighed. "Thanks, I gue-"  
>His sentence was cut off by the sight of Toby riding on Nimbimon's back, clinging tight. Julian froze for a second, then massaged his temples, sighing deeply.<p>

"We appreciate your help," Velocimon said, bowing his head, but looking up immediately after with a sort of coldness in his eyes, as Julian said:

"But it's not required."

What happened next was... unexpected, from any of the other three teammates.

"Oh, knock it off!" Toby all but yelled, sitting up, looking quite put out. "We're teammates, we're s'posed to help you! And more than that, Nimbimon's a perfect-level, like that thing, and Velocimon's only adult.  
>Julian was taken aback for a moment.<p>

And then he turned to Velocimon as though nothing had happened.  
>"Same plan as before. You just had a bit of bad aim, there, because of the angle, and maybe my weight. Try it again."<p>

Velocimon looked at Nimbimon and Toby. He said nothing; he looked at Julian, nodded, and ran off at SkullGreymon once more.

Julian looked at Toby, and turned away to watch his partner's attack. Nimbimon and the younger boy both remained quiet, watching as well.  
>Velocimon rushed at the skeleton digimon, and once again threw his entire being into a headbutt, this time colliding with the pulsating thing in his target's chest. Without so much as a second thought - if it had thoughts at all, really - SkullGreymon batted him away with a roar, lifting up a foot.<p>

Before Julian had a second yell or, really, so much as think, he found himself scooped up as Nimbimon ran straight into him, nearly somersaulting him over her head and onto her back, landing in front of Toby. Forgoing her cloud - though it trailed behind like a faithful dog - she, with both humans on her back, bolted straight in.  
>"<strong>Orb Bomb<strong>!"

Shining brilliantly, the light bombs shot from around her neck, crashing straight into SkullGreymon's foot- and giving Velocimon the second he needed to roll (a bit unceremoniously) out of the way.

"You know," Toby said quietly from behind Julian, looking to the side, even though Julian had his back to him, "I heard what you two were saying before I interrupted to bring you guys back."

Julian froze.

"I donno, I'm not gonna, uhm... give you a... 'Saturday morning cartoon moral'?" the younger continued, as Nimbimon came to a slow stop, still a fair distance from SkullGreymon. "But I think it's not fair to take it out on me. We're a team- or, uhm, part of one - and you..."

"... need to get used to that," Julian finished. He furrowed his brow, then, and looked over his shoulder. Slowly, an idea came to him.  
>Pause.<br>"Velocimon!" he yelled; the dinosaur seemed more than happy to split from SkullGreymon, rushed to join them.

Julian scrambled off of Nimbimon's back, to look the sheep in the eye.  
>"Can you distract SkullGreymon?"<p>

She paused, before nodding once. "Of course."

"If you can keep attacking it- I mean, distract it or do whatever damage you can. Give us a clear shot," Julian said, casting a look towards Skullgreymon- he was advancing on them.  
>A quick round of nods from all around.<p>

"Fan-freakin'-tastic."

It was at this point that Julian's D-GEAR quietly lit up, and began to shake as though an entire earthquake were being centralized in the small plastic device, and Velocimon found himself bathed in light. A shining symbol, like a crescent moon with three triangles lining its inside curve, burned on the screen, vivid forest-green, of the D-GEAR before sinking into the dinosaur's chest.

_**Virtuous Digivolution, begin.**_

The dinosaur bathed in light changed dramatically. He well more than doubled his size, though still smaller than the gargantuan SkullGreymon; his arms grew, changing from the small raptor arms to full-fledged appendages, and black cuffs snapped around each wrist. His tail, now far bulkier, lost its tuft of hair near the end, replaced with spikes, and a mass of black fur appeared around his neck. ... necks. Most striking of all was that where Velocimon had one neck, it split into two, each ended in a head with a shaggy mane of hair - red on his right and blue on his left- - and a skull mask that covered each face fully.

Both heads roared, his tail thrashing behind him, and he stomped on the ground so hard it shook.

"**Triassimon**!"

Julian stopped. "Hoh-lee crap."

He then broke into a grin. "Shoosh yeah, Saturday morning cartoon morals." He stood in awe for a moment, but quickly shook his head. "Okay. Plan is still on. Short-" Momentary pause. "_Toby_, get off of Nimbimon's back, first," he said, a bit of authority creeping into his voice.

Toby smiled and lowered himself from his partner's back; almost immediately, she took off, leaping onto her cloud and taking off to attack in their enemy's head area.  
>"Veloci- ... Triassimon!" Julian called up, cupping his hands; the closer of the two heads, the blue-haired one, turned to look. "Attack it! You may not have to hurt your head...s this time!"<p>

If he could have seen it, he would have seen both heads smirking and nodding, as Triassimon began to trudge forward.  
>Clearly, what he lost in speed, he was making up in <em>being imposing<em>- the earth shook with almost every step. SkullGreymon took note, and while it swatted away at Nimbimon, it gave a low snarling roar, and a missile was shot out of its back.

"**Twin Flare**!" Both of Triassimon's heads declared, and spread their mouths open wide. The red-haired head began to spew a plume of red fire, and the blue-haired head a stream of blue flames; the two flames met in the air. The moment they touched, they flashed and joined together, turning white- and incinerating SkullGreymon's missile mid-flight.

SkullGreymon roared, and began to completely ignore Nimbimon- instead, he chose to charge at Jurassimon, hands outstretched and bony tail thrashing, taking branches off trees and crushing logs with its feet.  
>Triassimon held his ground, growling, until SkullGreymon was entirely too close, and then...<p>

"**Double Helix**!"  
>With a curious sound, bright and high, that could only be described as a <em>flash<em> sound effect of sorts, where Triassimon stood a moment ago, there now stood two exact copies of him- though both only one-headed, and perhaps two-thirds the size of the original, and both were nigh-transluscent, one pure red and the other pure blue.

With a speed hard to predict, the two copies of the dinosaur rushed to the sides. SkullGreymon snarled, trying to decide which to attack- until both smashed straight into its ribcage, crashing their skull-covered heads into the fleshy organ.

Almost immediately, it began to shine brightly, encased in data.

Julian smirked, as Nimbimon leapt from her cloud to the ground and trotted her way over to the humans, and with a flash of light returned to Lammon mid-trot.  
>Triassimon did the same, a burst of light returning him to his child-level form, but he didn't quite return to the group; instead, he remained where SkullGreymon's remains fell to the ground in an egg.<p>

"What're you doing?" Toby asked, looking over at Iguamon; the dinosaur picked the egg up and turned around, holding it out for the others to see.  
>... well, it would have been an egg, did it not have a face and antennae, and were it not squishy and pink and very familiar looking.<p>

Koromon, limp in Iguamon's claws, was breathing but entirely unconscious.

"... well that does explain where it- she came from," Julian said dryly; Toby looked at him, confused. "... I'll explain it in a minute."

After finding a place to rest that was considerably less _destroyed_, Lammon, Iguamon, and Julian quickly explained to Toby the few things that had transpired after they began to walk while he had been unconscious earlier in the day- particularly, the brush they had with Koromon.

It still didn't explain very much- the little pink thing was a Baby II level, and what they had fought was perfect-level.  
>Call him cynical, but even as he drifted to sleep against a tree-trunk (it was the middle of the night, and had been a long day, after all), Julian's mind instantly went to Era.<p>

* * *

><p>Entirely too early in the morning, the four were awoken by a heavy, droning buzz and the flapping of wings. Roused to rude awakening, the two boys, the dino, and the sheep looked up to be looking straight at a gargantuan bird and an unholy mass of insect digimon. Koromon remained unconscious, asleep on Julian's lap.<br>Those awake were tensed and aware, until a familiar voice reached their ears:

"Hey! Where have you guys been?" Emily's chipper voice cried as he head popped up over the head of the tremendous bird, a grin plastered on her face. With a thud and a flutter, the giant bird landed, and Faris all but tumbled off of the bird's back into the dirt and grinned.

"Thought you were gonna kill us," Julian murmured, rubbing the back of his head, one eye closed- now that it was no threat, his awareness faded away. "Good to see you guys."

"No kiddin'," Faris said, grinning like a fool. "You wouldn't believe what we just did."

"Us either," Toby said with a little smile, slumping down against a tree.

One of the bugs, humanoid and of impressive stature, turned to Emily. "we have found your friends, yes?" The girl smiled and nodded; the bug bowed. "The Hive is proud to be of assistance to the Virtue Warriors. May your endeavors go well."

Faris, the giant bird, and Emily waved goodbye; a little look would reveal Delfinimon sprawled out and asleep on the bird's back, even as a tremendous thrumming buzz kicked up again and the insects took to the sky.  
>"I can only assume that is Kamomon?" Lammon said with a nod of her head towards the bird.<p>

"Aye!" the bird in question churred, beaming happily and bowing his head. "... aye, lad," he said, looking to Faris, "could ye get yer partner off my back? I'd like to return to normal."

"Oh! Yeah!" Faris said, scooping the sleeping dolphin into his arms; a flash of light later, and Kamomon remained. Faris chuckled, and looked to his brother. "... looks like you've got a new friend, broski," he pointed out, indicating the pink blob of Koromon.

Julian rolled his eyes, and heaved a dramatic sigh. "Long story. Not to be short, but, you kinda ruined my attempts at sleeping. S'too early for this."

Emily and Faris looked at eachother, and heaved a sigh of relief. Toby blinked a couple times, but then Emily said:  
>"Sorry 'bout that. Sleep sounds great right now, actually..."<p>

No more words were exchanged- in the slowly gathering morning light, four humans and their partners slid down to the ground and were fast asleep.

Some hours later, well before any of them were awake, a purple-skinned, winged figure stood near the edge of the small clearing, mismatched arms crossed.  
>Forbidramon said nothing, merely turned his back and walked away. From the shadows materialized a black, yellow-eyed figure; it just as quickly faded away, following.<p> 


	19. Chapter 19: The Pieces Come Together

_Author's Note: If you're the sort that just skips to the newest chapter: chapter 18 is new today, too! Read it, first. ;)_

* * *

><p>In a fraction of a second, the strange black digimon was rushing at the group. Black smoke trailing off its body, it hissed:<br>"**Dark Area**..."

The black shape and the one vivid-yellow eye on Nimon's chest was the last thing the kids and digimon alike saw before everything went black.

* * *

><p>Unlike with the humans, there was minimal delay between the attack and wakefulness for the Digimon. The sun was still slowly sinking overhead, but... they were nowhere near the proxy cave.<p>

"I feel like I got blind-sided by a _truck_," Egakumon groaned as he sat up, holding his head between his hands. He wobbled a bit, his eyes squeezed tight-closed.

"Imagine how _I_ feel, bunnyboy," piped up a high-pitched voice from beside, little Sinjmon lying flat on his back - or, the side opposite his face - in the dirt. Egakumon rubbed his forehead, rocking himself onto his feet. He waddled over to the smaller digimon and picked him up, setting his tiny teammate upright.

Sinjmon gave a little grunt of thanks, before-  
>"Andrea!"<p>

Egakumon turned to look where his teammate was looking, and indeed- sprawled on the ground were both Simon and Andrea, breathing, looking mostly unharmed, but out like lights. Egakumon's pupils contracted.

"_Si_!" he yelped, and both he and Sinjmon bounded towards their human partners- Sinjmon's bounces almost kept pace with Egakumon's longer strides.

At their human partners' sides, the two gently nudged at them.  
>"Get up!" Sinjmon urged, almost digging his head into Andrea's side; she turned over to lie on her side, facing Sinjmon, but didn't respond otherwise.<p>

Egakumon actually up and shook Simon by the shoulders.  
>Simon's eyes barely cracked open; Egakumon could see no sign of consciousness in the clouded-over gaze, but Simon's green eyes meet with Egakumon's big blue ones for an instant.<br>The boy cracked a bit of a smile, before his eyes slid closed again.

Egakumon chuckled, but then a thought hit him.  
>"Sinjmon?" he said, taking a step away from his partner. The little red puffball looked at him. "What the crap do we do?"<p>

Sinjmon looked around; they were in what appeared to be a dense jungle. "Well, at least freakjob and his pet were nice enough to send us into what I'm gonna guess is the Deep Jungle," he remarked. When Egakumon looked at him funnily, he continued: "Instead of, say, straight to Era, where we'd all be killed on the spot."

Egakumon blinked slowly. "You're _really_ bad at optimism." Sinjmon would have shrugged if he could, and Egakumon carried on. "But still, what are we supposed to do? Just... wait until they wake up?"

Pause.

"I'm surprised, bunnyboy," Sinjmon said. "I'm gonna suggest what _you_ usually suggest." Egakumon raised an eyebrow. "Call Deekamon." He gestured towards Simon's D-GEAR, clipped to his shorts as always.  
>Egakumon blinked, and carefully plucked the device into his claws. A bit unwieldly, he inwardly noted that the D-GEAR units were clearly made for human hands and not big honkin' Egakumon claws.<p>

He plopped down onto the ground, tapping carefully at buttons. The screen began to glow, and then... ...

Dead static.

"Oh, that's a good sign," Egakumon mumbled, shaking the digivice a little.

"Probably got mixed up by the attack," Sinjmon reasoned, gently nudging Andrea again. "Looks like we... wait."

* * *

><p>And wait they did.<br>Through the night the rabbit and the puffball sat, the moons rising silently and drifting along in the black sky. As the shining spheres were almost at their zenith, the nearly-asleep duo was shocked into wakefulness by a loud rustling sound.

Egakumon gripped his paintbrush in his hands, hopping to his feet; Sinjmon opened his mouth, little red bubbles starting to gather therein.

Out of the trees and dense ground-bound plants, there popped a pink head; after it followed a pink body, and a little pink tail. It was a rabbit of sorts, with big grey eyes, with ears and an underbelly to match in colour. Yellow ring-like markings were at the base of its ears, a stripe over one eye, and around its neck was a ruff of yellow fur, not unlike Egakumon's.

"Hi!" the new digimon said in a cheerful voice, waving.

"Who're you?" Sinjmon demanded, hopping over alongside Egakumon. Egakumon pulled his mouth back in a skeptical look as the pink rabbit waved again.

"M'name's Curamon," she chirrupped, and almost immediately bounded towards the two humans, sniffing at them. She whipped her head from the humans to the two digimon. "What're these?"

"Our partners," Egakumon said in a snap, walking forward and waving his paintbrush towards the newcomer.

Curamon blinked a couple times, then grinned. "Partners?" she shuffled a few feet towards the other rabbit, curious. "So are you guys..."

"The Virtue Recievers," Sinjmon finished for her, nodding his head (body), still looking distrustfully at the chipper newcomer. "And they're the Virtue Holders."

"I thought there were supposed to be_ seven_ of those," Curamon prodded, smiling in an almost mischievous way. "Not _twooo_."

"We're having a bit of... trouble with that," Egakumon said, a little sheepishly, but not losing face.

"What are you doing here?" Sinjmon cut in, bouncing a little bit.

"Well, I heard a noise," the pink bunny replied, gesturing with one paw, "and I wanted to see what it was. Nothing to worry about, I don't thiiiink."

Egakumon and Sinjmon exchanged looks with raised eyebrows; the little puffball spoke first.  
>"Well... you know what it is now. You can go away."<p>

Curamon put her hands on her hips, and huffed. "G'heeze. For heroes, you guys aren't very niiiice," she said in an almost singsong voice, and turned to go. Egakumon gave just the littlest groan, and spoke up.

"We just have to stay alert," he said, holding out one hand as though to stop her, despite being quite a few feet away. "And we gotta be _careful_." He was getting into a heroic-speech groove, and pointed to the heavens with his brush. "And be on the lookout for anything that might _attack_!"

Curamon giggled; Egakumon went a little red in the face. "That's silly," she said, still giggling. "This place is still a free Area, y'know?"

"So it is, then," the male rabbit said, nodding with just a bit of satisfaction on his face. "Good to know. Less chance of being ripped apart by Agents!"

"And you said I'm bad at optimism," Sinjmon mumbled.

Curamon giggled again, and pointed into the trees this way. "Well, I won't booother you then. I live just a little ways this way." The two partner digimon blinked, and she elaborated. "Looks like your _partners_ are gonna be out for a while, and it looks like they're kinda heavy! So if you need any help or anything, until they get up, yeah?"

Before Egakumon or Sinjmon could get a word in, she darted off into the foliage and was lost from view.

"What a kook," Egakumon remarked; Sinjmon gave an 'mm' of assent.

* * *

><p>Before long, the two worked out a plan to alternate sleeping- Sinjmon would keep watch first while Egakumon caught some sleep, and then the roles would reverse. Switching off like this every couple of hours, eventually the moons sunk below the horizon and the rosy sun began to cast its rays over the Area. Yet nothing happened.<p>

Unbeknownst to either digimon, spread throughout this 'corner' of the area were all of their teammates, all of the humans unconscious and the digimon rushing to protect them from all comers.

And yet, nothing was happening to the rabbit and little bouncy ball.

Nothing continued to happen for another entire day; Curamon returned in the late morning, and she made small talk with the pair. Though she was considerably less erratic as before, she again chose to run off without much in the way of warning. The two sat and listened to the sounds of the Area around them, even made small talk with passing digimon.

It was weird to be in an Area without any Era influence. All of them had grown up in an area where they couldn't stay outside long for fear of Agents until their partners came, and even then, they could never let their guards down.  
>And it was almost disconcerting to be in a place where they could sit for a day and not worry. Egakumon wandered off to find some food. He came across a strange fruit- not a Terrafruit, best he could tell, but it was soft to the touch and tasted pleasantly sweet and tart, and it quickly took a high spot for both Sinjmon and Egakumon.<p>

After the sun had set on the second day (or the first full day, whichever they chose to see it as), though, something interesting _did_ happen.  
>A good half-day before any of their distant comrades would, Simon and Andrea both began to stir to wakefulness.<p>

"Oh geeze what happened," Simon groaned as he forced himself to sit up, startling the two digimon, neither of whom were keeping a close eye on the humans at this point.

"Si!" Egakumon yelped, leaping towards his partner, jumping at him in a full-tackle hug, and pinning him back down to the ground.

"H'ooff! Dude, you need to lose weight, my paintbrushy bunny buddy."

"Shyaddap, will you?" Andrea murmured, rubbing her head and staying laying on the ground. "It feels like someone took a sledgehammer to the back of my head, and your yelling isn't helping it."

Sinjmon nuzzled his head up against his partner's arm, and she even momentarily paused her griping to put a hand on his fluffy head, and he smiled. She picked him up into her lap as she sat up, and looked around.  
>"What'd we miss?" Andrea said, then blinked and looked around. "... aaand where the heck is everyone else."<p>

Egakumon opened his mouth, and was shoved unceremoniously off of Simon. He responded to her as soon as he finished his clumsy somersault. "You didn't miss much! ... aaand we have _no_ idea."

The kids - their heads still foggy - stared at eachother for a moment. Andrea's expression was irked, and Simon's a combination of mild dismay and conviction.

"I'm gonna take it, then, that we were right about this being free of Era," Andrea chanced, a bit sarcastically.

"Yep!"

Curamon's pink little head popped out of the greenery from behind, and just about gave the two humans a collective heart attack.

"The heck is that!" Simon yelped, clutching at his hat as though he were expecting bombs to start falling.

Sinjmon responded with the air of someone who was vaguely apologetic, but mostly exasperated. "That's Curamon."

"She's been breaking up the silence, y'could say," Egakumon continued, gesturing with one hand. "She's... a'ight."

The pink bunny hopped forward, looking between the humans. "Good to see you two woke up," she remarked, her ears twitching and a mischievous smile on

her face. "Virtue Holders and stuff. Fate of the Digital World."  
>Again, Simon and Andrea looked at eachother, this time both of them a bit bewildered.<br>"I guess you're gonna go find your friends, then," she said airily, gesturing to the jungle at large with one paw.

Simon let out a huffing laugh. "Yeahhhh, gimme a second here. I just woke up, y'know?"

Andrea meanwhile stood up - after putting Sinjmon on the ground - and stretched her arms and legs, her body bending like a bow. "I don't think it's such a bad idea," she said, yawning.

"But it's, like, _midnight_," Simon all but whined, moving his legs to sit cross-legged on the ground. "Let's wait until morning before we send out any, like, search-and-rescue parties."

"No offense, Si, but you guys have been sleeping for the past, like, day," Egakumon pointed out (and physically pointed, at nothing in particular, as though to emphasize his pointing-out).

"The guy with the funny hat is right thouuugh," Curamon said, then, tilting her head. Simon clutched at his hat and went a little red in the face. "A lot of digimon probably won't like it if you go stomping through their territory in the middle of the night."

Sinjmon frowned, and gave a little 'hmph', but nodded. "Makes sense, I guess."  
>He sounded reluctant to admit it.<p>

Andrea paused, but folded her arms, and sat down, cross-legged, the same as Simon. She put her hands on her knees, and Sinjmon bounced his way back onto her lap. "So what do we do then, sit around until the sun comes up? I'm not exactly gonna go straight back to sleep, if you get me."

"We could sing campfire songs," Simon remarked with a roll of his eyes, pulling his knees to his chest. "Or you could try being at least a little optimistic."

"Already had this coversation with bouncyball," Egakumon said, jerking a thumb at Sinjmon, who gave a little growling mewl in response.

Curamon looked between the four with her big grey eyes, and then she giggled. "You guys are funny," she remarked matter-of-factly, putting her arms akimbo.  
>As quickly as she had appeared, she darted off into the dark again, and all gathered looked after her. Egakumon sighed.<p>

A moment of sort of bewildered silence later, Andrea shrugged, looking at the moons. "Just figure we should try to find the others, before anyone gets hurt or attacked by anything they can't handle."

Simon raised an eyebrow, and smiled a bit. He felt that were he here, Faris might have remarked that_ look, she has a soul_. The thought crossed his mind, but he held his tongue.  
>"Well, still. I donno how much we'll get done, at the moment," he said, "'cept getting <em>lost<em>."

"Aren't we already lost?" Sinjmon piped up.

"He's got a point. And I donno, Si," Egakumon said, with a sly grin. "Being lost is like your favorite hobby, innit?"

"Ah, put a sock in it," Simon replied, smiling, but he looked up as Andrea spoke.

"He's got a point, though. I mean, you've been acting like you get to be leader, but you've got a penchant for getting yourself lost from what I hear, when you keep breaking away from the group." She leaned back on her hands, but there wasn't much of her typical malice or anger on her face, and she spoke with an even face. "And for running into things headlong."

Simon blinked a couple times, and shrugged.  
>"Yeah, well. No offense but the rest of you guys all just wanna... I donno. Stay in place and take stuff sitting down, y'know?"<p>

Andrea gave Simon a long, hard look, but said nothing for a good ten seconds. She shook her head, and scooted herself back to sit against a fallen log, closing her eyes.

"If we're gonna stay here, then, we may as well at least not exert ourselves."

Simon furrowed his brow, but nodded. He moved himself up aganst a boulder, his knees still up to his chest. He watched the girl for a moment. "You've been acting kind of weird since-"  
>Narakamon.<p>

As if she predicted the next word, Andrea's eyes shot open, and her expression was nothing short of a dare. _Finish that sentence._

There was a tense silence.

"It just seems like you're trying to pretend-" Simon began, but was cut off _very quick_.

"Well I'm sorry if wanting not to talk about it makes me a _bad person_, or whatever the heck you judge people by. Yeah, knowing you, I figure if you made Egakumon turn into a murderous monster you'd just skip merrily into the freakin' sunset and act like nothing went wrong. Sorry I'm less so."  
>Andrea's voice was icy and even-toned, which unnerved the boy more than if she had yelled.<p>

Sinjmon nuzzled his tiny body against her; she put a hand on the top of his head again, and stared daggers into a pebble on the ground near her.

Simon and Egakumon were both completely taken aback.

"Iiii think I hit a nerve," Simon mumbled out of the corner of his mouth to Egakumon.

"No kidding," the rabbit replied, blinking slowly.

* * *

><p>Hours passed in a sort of tense silence. Eventually Egakumon and Sinjmon both fell asleep, while the kids kept remarkably to themselves. Curamon poked her head out of the leaves once or twice, but quickly slunk back without a word. The first rays of sun were beginning to peek through the leaves, and the kids had finally fallen asleep alongside their digimon.<p>

Only the Digimon were awake, then, when a cold, dry wind suddenly passed through their little camp, a sharp contrast to the heavy, humid air of the jungle. Mere moments after, strolling straight through their midsts was a familiar black form.

Nimon was walking straight past them. Egakumon and Sinjmon tensed themselves.  
>It stopped, breathing heavily through its nose. The two digimon's breath hitched. The black digimon did nothing. It merely stood, both Sinjmon's coal-black eyes and Egakumon's blue meeting with the slit pupil and the searing yellow of the huge eye fixed on its chest as it swivelled to look at the two digimon and their human parters. Its gaze seemed to bore into each of them, lingering too long to be comfortable.<p>

It did nothing, and began to walk away.  
>The partner digimon could only stare in its wake.<p>

"... I think that's our cue to get moving," Egakumon said, and Sinjmon couldn't agree more.

With the kind of jolt only obtainable from a giant rabbit shaking your shouders violently, Simon and Andrea were both brought to wakefulness by Egakumon's haphazard method.

"What's the deal?" Simon mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

"It's time to go," Sinjmon replied simply.

They found it best not to argue, though the urgency in the little puffball's voice was a bit disconcerting.  
>Perhaps the digimon didn't want to alarm their partners by telling them what had just happened.<p>

In a sort of harried way, they began to move again- Andrea picked her partner up into her arms again, and sighed. Egakumon was all but pushing Simon on his way until they began to walk of their own accord. Into the jungle they went.  
>It was slow going at times- there was almost no path to follow, instead just a haphazard walk through a mass of tree-roots and huge plants.<p>

They didn't notice the little pink bunny following them, staying quiet as she could.

"We're never gonna find the others in here," Simon lamented as he batted a vine out of his face.

"Optimism, Si!" Egakumon cheered, pumping his paintbrush-holding fist into the air (and into a low-hanging branch, whacking his knuckles).

"Cute," said a voice from behind them, and they almost stumbled in their sudden whipping around. Seemingly having appeared from nowhere, Forbidramon stood there, standing as nonchalantly as he ever did. His tattered wings fluttered just slightly.

"What do you want now?" Egakumon blurted instantly, almost hopping up and down; Forbidramon smiled.

"Oh, calm down, bunny boy. I'm under _orders_, so I won't be _doing_ anything to you little brats or your pets. Moreover, I have other places to go. It's so boring around here without any Agents to order around," he mused, and gave an overdramatic sigh. "Pity. Unless this place surrenders soon it'll have to go."

"What do you mean by that?" Sinjmon piped up, growling.

Forbidramon smiled. "Why, wouldn't that just ruin the surprise? No, though. At the moment I'm just here to do a little checkup." He paused, his red eyes drifting between Simon and Andrea. "Surprised you two are already awake. All of your little friends may as well be comatose at the moment."  
>A nasty, nasty laugh. "Of course, excepting the seventh."<p>

Simon's hands clenched into fists, Andrea's body tensed. Neither motion went unnoticed.

"Oh! You gonna try attacking me again, girlie?" Forbidramon said in the most mocking tone, then looked at the little digimon in her arms.  
>Smirk.<br>With one long stride forward, he extended his red arm in the blink of an eye and plucked the little digimon out of its partner's arms. Andrea made an indescribable noise; instantly, Simon's D-GEAR began to glow, his fists clenched tight.

"Egakumon, kickstart digivolve to... Shokunimon!"

Forbidramon let out a hearty laugh, looking at the still quite small rabbit digimon. "I _said_ I was under orders. What, do you think I'd_ lie_ to you?"

"You're not exactly the most trustworthy," Simon mumbled low.

"I'm _hurt_," Forbidramon said, putting his mechanical hand over his head.  
>He looked impassively at the little red digimon, totally dwarfed by his hand, and chuckled. "Still only this level? You don't even stand a chance."<p>

What happened next happened very fast, and was very strange to behold.

Forbidramon closed his hand around Sinjmon, who was trying his hardest to bite at the enemy's fingers, to absolutely no avail.  
>His hand, and the digimon in it, began to glow bright white; Sinjmon let out a growl and a yelp, and then...<p>

Forbidramon dropped Rajamon at Andrea's feet, the tiger only half-conscious and flopped on the ground. She instantly kneeled, completely speechless, holding her partner's head in her lap.

"What do you know," the dragon-like humanoid mumbled, smiling nastily as though a number of ideas were swimming around in his head, "it works."

"What was th-" Shokunimon demanded, clutching his paintbrush; Forbidramon snickered.

"Lord Era will be pleased with this little development, now, won't he?"

The four were rendered speechless- or rather, the three and the half-unconscious Rajamon were rendered speechless.  
>Simon was the first to speak; he looked at Shokunimon, and as he spoke, Forbidramon grinned nastily.<p>

"He... forced a digivolution," the boy murmured, looking sideways at Forbidramon. "Do you think he could do it to other digimon, too...?"

"We are so screwed," Andrea said, half-choked.

Shokunimon clutched his brush, and set his jaw. "No, we're not. **Paint Blast**!"  
>He instantly leapt forward, spraying the acidic paint from his brush straight at Forbidramon; the target took a step back as if only for formality, looking almost entirely unscathed.<p>

"You're still _trying that_," Forbidramon said with what was almost a giggle, as though he couldn't contain how funny he thought it was.

"Matter of principle," the rabbit replied, almost nonchalantly.

Forbidramon smiled. "Do you know what happens when you force a digimon to grow to a level it's never been to?" He looked pointedly at Rajamon on the ground, and then at Andrea. "I'm sure _you_ do, girlie. They lose their minds." He tapped his head as though to indicate it.

"That's because of the- corrupt virtue thing, Deekamon said," Andrea spat back, glaring daggers. His lips curled into a smile, Forbidramon held up his red hand. On the palm, a small symbol was glowing, slowly fading away- the symbol that had been on the virtue talisman they had seen him absorb.

"Then tell me, what do you think _this_ is?" Smile. "The virtue stops working right. It siphons too much of Yggdrasil. There's a reason they say that being near it would cause a digimon to go mad."

Pause.

"And that's why we're glad that our Lord Era is no mere digimon."

A flash of darkness suddenly crossed the path; the searing yellow eye of Nimon was visible for a split second, and then both it and Forbidramon were gone.

Just behind where Forbidramon had stood a second before, Curamon sat with awe and fear in her eyes, dumbstruck. "What was that?" she said in a hushed voice; Shokunimon raised his eyebrows.

"_That_ was one of Era's agents," he said, shaking his head and twitching his tail.

"..." Curamon furrowed her brow, looking deep in thought.  
>And then she darted away.<p>

"... what a kook," Rajamon rasped from where he lay, cracking one eye open.  
>Andrea smiled- perhaps there were even a few tears forming in the corners of her eyes, not that she'd ever admit it if pressed.<p>

"We've... gotta find the others," she said after a moment, stroking the tuft of fur on Rajamon's head. Slowly, he got himself to his feet, a bit like he was waking up after a long sleep.

"Feels weird to have feet again," he remarked.

"Good to see you have feet again, broski," Shokunimon said, smiling, then closed his eyes. With a surge of light, he reduced down to Egakumon. The rabbit turned, looking at Simon. "You good to go?"

"As ever," the boy replied, giving a thumbs-up, but his mind was clearly somewhere else. Egakumon gave a thumbs-up right back. Andrea pushed herself to her feet.

* * *

><p>And look for the others, they did. Breaking out their D-GEAR units for radar, they searched high and low. They ran into digimon of all sorts, many of them friendly or at least completely unconcerned; but none of them had seen hide nor hair of any of their friends.<br>It was a long day, to be sure of it; they covered a great amount of ground, and moreover, they didn't run into either Forbidramon nor Nimon at any point. The thought was lingering in their minds, though, of what could happen... and yet, nothing_ did_.

There was no progress at all until the morning after, almost a full day after they had seen Forbidramon.

A smallish green caterpillar-like digimon actually came up to the small group from behind; they might not have noticed it if not for the fact that it tugged on one of the legs of Simon's shorts. "Excuse me," he said in a meek voice; Simon craned his neck to look, and only after a moment got the idea to _turn around_.

"Que pasa, bugsy?" Simon said, Rajamon coming up and sniffing at the bug, then backed away.

"Uhm... my name is Wormmon, but- You four are Virtue Warriors, aren't you?"

This was perhaps the fiftieth time they had been asked this in the past day; Andrea nodded. "Yyyep. I guess word's going around."

Wormmon seemed to smile, even though its odd mouth didn't much allow for it. "Uhm... some of your friends were looking for you. They're not far from here, when we left them..."

One could almost hear a little 'ping' noise as all four of them straightened up, suddenly alert. "Where!" Egakumon yelped, hopping up and down with excitement. Wormmon beamed.

"F-follow me."

* * *

><p>Emily, Faris, Julian, and Toby - and their partners - were all just stirring to wakefulness, finally rested. Koromon was still on Julian's lap, no closer to consciousness than she was before.<br>She almost tumbled straight off of the boy's lap when the group at large heard rustling.

And a voice.

"Guys!" Simon's voice echoed out; Egakumon was letting out noise of cheer, and Andrea and Rajamon were both laughing in a ragged way.

"It's about time, yeom," Delfinimon said, yawning, but a silly grin plastered on her face. A moment later, the four final members of the team thus far stumbled into the little clearing, out of breath.

"You're never going to believe what happened," Simon panted.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: And this concludes our double feature. I'm switching back to a once a week update schedule, too, so. ... yeah!<em>

_Curamon is the digimon of one of my contest winners, second-place, eyedocjr on deviantArt. So credit where credit's due. And she'll appear later, a couple chapters from now, this isn't all she gets. Peace!  
><em>


	20. Chapter 20: Little Lion Man

It took an hour or so before everyone had told their sides of the stories to satisfaction- after, of course, the initial shock and thrill of everyone finally being back together took its course. Slightly cramped as they were, sitting in a circle in the little room they had, they all sat in silence save those speaking, humans alongside their digimon, and listened.  
>Not a soul was left not confused when Rajamon explained how he had returned to Child form.<p>

"You're sure you're not gonna, like, go wonky or anything, yeom?" Delfinimon asked with a silly grin on her face.

"For the luvva... I'm fine!" Rajamon said, batting the dolphin's bottle-nose with one big paw.

"She's just makin' sure. You never know, what with _senor psycho_," Faris said, twirling a finger around his ear in the 'crazy' motion.

"Mm." Julian nodded. "You realize how lucky you are that you got away from him?"

Andrea sighed, leaning back on her hands. She looked up to the sky, many of the branches overhead having been broken from Emily and Faris' arrival here earlier. "It's weird, though."

"What's weird?" Simon asked, sitting up a little straighter.

Egakumon tugged on his sleeve. "Well, pro'lly that she's run into him twice and got away unscathed, y'know?" the rabbit said, a bit hushed. Of course, she hadn't gotten out unscathed of the Narakamon incident - not mentally, at least - but...

At the back of everyone's minds there was that thought- what on earth was Forbidramon up to? He hadn't even physically attacked them in almost any of their previous encounters, even though he likely could easily have taken care of them without a second thought. He had helped Andrea when Rajamon turned into the monster; he helped put Rajamon back at child level; and yet he seemed to be completely devoted to Era.

"The point is that we're all back together, right?" Emily cut in, diffusing what she felt could turn into a rather unpleasant situation. Kamomon nodded, giving a little 'mm' of assent.

"We've never been apart that long, I don't believe," he said with a flourish of one wing-hand, and it was true.

"We're a team," Lammon said, bowing her head. "Bound by Yggdrasil and the Sovereigns. To be apart would intrinsically seem wrong."

She looked back up, and every one of those assembled knew exactly what was on her mind: Sampamon.

What followed was a moment of contemplative silence. The digimon felt like something was missing from their group on a deep and primal level; the humans, as they sat, felt a sort of understanding.  
>They had no idea where the seventh child was, or what had become of him; but they felt a quiet kinship. They were the only humans in this world, and at least the group had one another (even if they didn't always get along that great). He and Sampamon... ... well... who knew what had happened to them? What if Forbidramon had been telling the truth?<p>

With such an uncertain fate for both the kid and his digimon... an invisible, spiritual weight fell around the group. If they didn't find him, then what would become of _this_ group?

"So are we going to keep looking?" Julian said from where he sat, piercing the silence with that small question.

Another pause fell over them. Looks were exchanged, and a silent consensus was formed:

_As if it were even a question._

* * *

><p>What followed was an entire three days of walking. It carried them through a number of locales in the jungle area: a small village of pink birds; a waterfall into a small pool near a cliffside; but almost nothing conclusive, nothing that lead them any closer to any kind of answer. Koromon awoke about a day after the group re-joined; she made a few loud complaints about iwhere these new buffoons came fromi, but she seemed as though she had absolutely no memory of her time as SkullGreymon.

"I just remember that red-armed wacko coming back and then I was here," she had said dismissively, before giving a begrudging thanks to those who protected her and then hopped off on her way.  
>Well, at least it solved that.<br>Not that it was heartening- it meant that Forbidramon was using that ability.

And yet...

They didn't even run into Forbidramon again, nor any rampaging digimon- and by the end of the third full day since the reunion, they were almost getting paranoid. Any sudden sound caused at least one or two of the number to jump at any given time, even if it turned out to be so little as a little digimon passing by, undisturbed by the group and going about their own business.

* * *

><p>Far, far away from the children and their partners, Forbidramon stood on top of the cliffside he had stood upon a few days ago, overlooking the entirety of the Deep Jungle as the first rays of the sun spread their fingers over it. Deep below him, the low thrum of the eastern Deep Jungle hive in their caverns almost vibrated the solid rock. It was the dawn of the fourth day since the kids had reunited. The daytime life of the jungle was beginning to stir, and the night-dwellers settling down for the day.<br>Forbidramon was getting impatient.  
>A black cloud of smoke appeared beside him, slowly solidifying into the familiar shape of Nimon astride him.<p>

"Forbidramon?" it said in its silky low voice. Forbidramon didn't respond, so it continued. "Is something wrong?"

Keeping his eyes focused outwards, his mismatched arms folded, Forbidramon waited for a few moments before speaking. Whether he was just pausing for effect or actually searching for words was ambiguous. "Nimon," he said in an airy voice, "why does Lord Era keep giving me commands not to attack them?"

"Lord Era knows best," Nimon said back, echoing words its partner had said too many times to count.

"Lord Era is setting himself up for failure," Forbidramon almost snarled back, his eyes glinting. "I couldn't let myself live if I allowed those brats to get powerful enough to overthrow Lord Era."  
>"I don't mean to disobey our Lord Era, of course." He clenched his red hand into a fist, growling, his eyes narrowed.<br>"But I don't understand it."

Nimon looked up at him, and slowly moved towards him. It nudged its head against his robotic hand, staying silent.

There was a long silence.

"Nimon?"

"Yes?"

"You will follow me no matter what I do, right?"

"Yes."

"Even if it goes against Lord Era's orders, for Lord Era's own good?"

There was absolutely no hesitation. "Yes."

Forbidramon lifted his metal hand and placed it on Nimon's head, like a person would place a hand on a cat's head.  
>"Are you ready for this?" he said quietly, his pupils narrowing.<p>

"Yes."

Forbidramon turned, the virtue symbol on his red hand beginning to glow bright-white. He placed it down on Nimon's head, and its black body was engulfed by an eye-searingly bright white light. Its mouth forced the bandages around its mouth to snap like rubber bands as it let loose an ear-shattering, piercing howl as it began to change form.

"**Sanmon**..."

* * *

><p>"Did you guys hear something?" Simon said, looking around him. He, Faris, and their respective partners were sitting watch, and from far, far away, they heard a noise. Faris turned his head, and furrowed his brow. As quickly as the sound had come about, it was gone again.<p>

"What was..." Egakumon mumbled, frowning, as a small flock of bird-like digimon fluttered away and out of the trees above.

"I'd say I had imagined it if it didn't seem like you guys heard it too, yeom," Delfinimon said, looking around. "'Least I'm not goin' nuts."

"It sounded like a banshee getting _run over by a semi truck_, whatever it was," Faris remarked in a low voice; Egakumon and Simon snickered; it was an accurate description, with all of Faris' usual delivery.  
>And yet... they waited. Nothing else happened.<p>

It went silent.

* * *

><p>The rest of the morning was quiet- to use a cliche,<em> too<em> quiet. Simon and Faris chose not to mention the odd sound, and as such the morning began like those before it. It had almost become routine; slowly, one by one, the members of the team would begin to wake up; before heading out, they would dig into their supply of Terrafruit; there would be much discussion and complaining as they slowly brought themselves to full function after sleep.

Today, the middle portion of this routine would be interrupted. The entire earth began to shake, just so faintly; and then...

"Warriors!" squawked a familiar, urgent voice, followed by frantic flapping. The group looked around; it was Kamomon who first saw it, and he squawked right back in reply.

"_Loromon_!"

The word sent a shuffle of noise and murmur through the team; but lo, nearly falling to the ground as he flapped his way down to ground level, was a distinctly familiar little green bird, a familiar face from their time back in the Great Ocean. He had apparently gotten to a new home safe and sound... ... or, er, until now.  
>Loromon squawked weakly as he landed and could barely keep himself standing up straight; Iguamon and Kamomon rushed forward to support him, draping one wing around each of their shoulders to keep him up upright.<p>

"Holy crap, birdyguy," Egakumon blurted, cringing, "you look like you got put through a grain thresher."

It was an accurate description; his feathers were all out of place; the ear-like feather that had once held an earring was torn and the earring gone, as if the jewelery had been ripped out; he was covered in grime and blood, the latter presumably his; the tip of his beak was bent inward just so slightly.  
>"It is nothing," the parrot rasped, tears starting to form in the corners of his big blue eyes. "I am just glad I was able to find you again."<p>

"It's not nothing," Toby said quietly, frowning; Lammon used her nose to gently push a piece of terrafruit at their avian ally. Loromon coughed once or twice and smiled weakly, pecking at it- and then gobbling it down with alarming speed.

"What's the deal?" Rajamon said, pawing at the ground. "I mean- what th'heck is going on?"

"Rogue digimon," Loromon replied, almost cutting the tiger off, barely having time to swallow his mouthful of fruit. "Perfect levels- lost control."

"Forbidramon," Iguamon mumbled immediately, staring into the ground as it began to shake harder.

"You'll have to explain more," Kamomon said gently, adjusting Loromon's wing around him. The other bird was speaking very quickly and in such short fragments- while it was easy to see what had happened (as far as they could surmise), this much wouldn't suffice.

The excitable green bird took a deep breath, and nodded his head.  
>"This morning. There was this... noise." Simon exchanged a look with Egakumon, and Faris with Delfinimon. Nobody else noticed this, focused on Loromon, who did not pause. "After that... attacks began. Digimon suddenly forced to Adult and Perfect levels. Going berserker."<br>In the distance, there was a deep roar. Loromon looked in that direction pointedly, and kept talking.  
>"I've heard from fellow... escapees, that a beautiful white digimon and a furious demon digimon precede the changes."<p>

"Demon... Forbidramon," Andrea reasoned, but... a beautiful white digimon?

"Nimon- or whatever its perfect form is named?" Rajamon said quietly, all but reading his partner's mind. She nodded, tight-lipped.

"I, ah, haven't seen them, myself," Loromon admitted, sighing. "But I don't believe I want to. I barely escaped from one that attacked me- ah, a DoruGreymon I believe... but, ah, that's not important. No, he was... he was an animal. No mind at all, no keeping itself hidden- just rage and instinct and chanting the name 'Era'."

The humans and the digimon exchanged looks- each expression was one of concern, or confusion, or of preparation for an inevitable fight.

"I came to warn you- but I saw another digimon coming this way," Loromon finished, gingerly removing his wings from around the dinosaur's and the seagull's shoulders. "You'll need to be on your gua-"

Before he could finish the _word_, there was a brilliant flash of light from all around; where once stood the child-level partners, instead stood adult-levels, prepared for a battle.

There was a slight hesitation, however, before they reached their full numbers.  
>Rajamon took a deep breath, breathing out through his teeth as he looked at the others. This would be his first voluntary digivolution after...<br>He turned to nod at Andrea; she hesitated for just a moment, before she held up her D-GEAR.

"Rajamon, kickstart digivolve to... Baghamon!"

There was an air of solemnity about the six Adult-levels; the humans could feel it, Loromon could feel it. Slowly, one at a time, the humans got to their feet, stepping back from their partners. Loromon all but hobbled, shuffling towards them, as everything fell dead silent.  
>"Good luck," Loromon said quietly.<p>

And then it came.

It broke through head-first. ... Heads-first. Smashing his way through the jungle was a snake of tremendous size, a bouquet of seven white, metallic heads surrounding a central black with a red underside, all sprouting from a mass of fur, connecting them to the tremendous black snake body. To say it was _huge_ would be to say that an ocean is_ a tiny bit damp_; so much as one of its heads matched size with Shayumon or Baghamon.  
>The D-GEAR units began their chorus.<p>

_Orochimon. Perfect-level Dark Dragon digimon. A digimon that has posed a threat to the Digital World since ancient times. Though only the black head is real, all eight heads can attack with its Inferno Blast._

In a low voice, the snake's center head was indeed chanting:  
>"<em>Era. Era. Era. Era. Era. Era.<em>"

"Perfect level. Great," Simon said, smirking just a little bit, and he held up his D-GEAR. "We can take this overgrown garden snake, yeah?"

"Like it's even a question," Shokunimon said from alongside his partner, smiling.

One by one, the others followed suit in holding up their D-GEAR units; first Julian, then Emily, followed by Toby, and Faris was last. Their devices began to shake like the earth had done, before beams of light erupted from each and into their respective digimon.

"Shokunimon, virtuous digivolve to..._ StarShokunimon_!"  
>"Velocimon, virtuous digivolve to... <em>Triassimon<em>!"  
>"Kaizokumon, virtuous digivolve to... <em>Ospreymon<em>!"  
>"Ariamon, virtuous digivolve to... <em>Nimbimon<em>!"  
>"Shayumon, virtuous digivolve to... <em>MetalShayumon<em>!"

It was a sight to see- for the first time, five of the partner digimon were standing side by side, all in Perfect form. For some of the children - and their partners- this was the first they had seen of some of them. There was no time to ogle, however. The light faded away from each in turn, and for just a moment, they faced Orochimon, and he faced right back.  
>Orochimon reared back all eight heads and let out a hissing roar- and moreover...<p>

"**Inferno Blast**!"  
>From all of its mouths poured a burning cloud of... energy? Fire? It was difficult to tell. The smell itself was burning and acrid, and the partner digimon each had to throw up their arms to protect their faces as the blast hit them.<p>

And then it was no holds barred.

"**Astral Bolt**!" StarShokunimon called, leaping high into the air; while he did, MetalShayumon joined in:

"**Charge Wave**!" And the cyborg shark released a pulse of electric energy from its body, straight to Orochimon; as it hit, so rang true StarShokunimon's two-footed kick from above, straight into... one of Orochimon's dummy heads.

"**Twin Flare**!" from Triassimon and an "**Orb Bomb**!" from Nimbimon; again, Orochimon moved his real head out of the line of fire and instead opted to let a dummy head take the heat.  
>Ospreymon, for his part, flew up high to try and get the drop on the snake, but was stopped by another spewing attack from Orochimon.<p>

"**Inferno Blast**!"

The five attacked and attacked as best they could; Orochimon thrashed his body and heads around, almost effortlessly keeping pace. Any time they got a hit in, it would return with a strike in kind, either another Inferno Blast or by thrashing out with his massive body and tail, covering all of his bases.

"We're screwed if those nimrods can't figure out how to get at its real head," Andrea said quietly from where she was, Baghamon by her side. The tiger and the girl watched their teammates while they themselves hung back- uncharacteristically enough.

Baghamon looked at her, and nodded his head, but he was all but saying:  
><em>But what can we do about it?<em>  
>But what he did say, and it sounded choked and forced, even begrudging: "I'm sure they'll handle it."<p>

It was hard, Andrea realized. For the past week and more, she had been completely unable to make an impact with the group- and she felt, for once, in no place to make comments about it.  
>She<em> hated<em> feeling so helpless. She always had, and now - when it was more than personal issues, when it was about _giant monsters fighting each-other or they would die_... well, needless to say, she wasn't the happiest camper. She looked at the D-GEAR in her hand, and looking at its dim screen, for a moment she forgot where she was- even as their digimon were waging battle on Orochimon entirely too close for comfort.

She very well couldn't just ride into battle- or let Baghamon just ride into battle - with how _well_ it had worked last time. But how the heck was she supposed to get this stupid thing to activate, otherwise?  
>She clutched at the little device in her hands and clenched her eyes shut, trying to force back the inevitable.<p>

_Oh, no you don't. You're staying in._

She could not stop the first signs of tears from forming at the corner of her eyes, and so she turned away from the fight. She turned on her heel and began to walk._ They'll handle it._  
>Baghamon did not notice at first, but the second his partner brushed past his tail, he whipped his head around.<p>

"Andrea?"

Staring intently at the battle before them and yelling encouragement to his rabbity partner, Simon's ears pricked up. He turned to look- and saw Baghamon's tail-end retreating into the trees, following the girl.  
>The be-hat-ed boy cast a look at the fight, and cupped his hands over his mouth:<p>

"_Kick its face in_, buddy!"

And with those words of wisdom, Simon turned on his heel and followed after Baghamon, quietly as he could.

* * *

><p>After walking a short distance, Andrea suddenly reared back like a baseball pitcher, and...<br>Chucked her digivice as hard as she could muster into the nearest tree. It hit the wood with a thud and fell into a large fern nestled in between the roots, looking completely unharmed. She stared at it for a second, walked up to the tree... and smashed her knuckles into the trunk as well, hanging her head, letting her hair fall in front of her face like a curtain.

"You're going to hurt yourself like that, Andrea," Baghamon's voice said from behind her with uncharacteristic gentleness, and she whipped around incredibly quickly- like a reflex. She was losing the battle with her emotions, and tears had welled up in the corners of her eyes. How much of this was due to her smashing her fist full-force into a solid tree trunk was unsure- but it wasn't much, Baghamon knew.  
>There were just some things that partners know.<p>

"Figured I may as well do something productive," Andrea said right back, trying to put on her usual tough-girl air, with limited success.  
>At this point was when Simon walked into earshot, and... decided to hide behind the nearest tree in the time-honored tradition of eavesdropping. He didn't want to interrupt a moment, after all.<p>

"I'm just as frustrated as you about letting those bozos do all the work, too," the tiger said, smiling a little, "but I'm not gonna go bash my head into trees or anything. You know. Teamwork and all that."

Andrea folded her arms, casting a bitter glance at the D-GEAR on the ground. "But..."

"But?"

"But it's my fault you haven't reached Perfect yet," she said, hugging her arms closer to herself. "Or, I mean... not the _right_ one. So it's my fault if those idiots can't beat that snake thing because we couldn't help." Simon, from his hiding spot, had his eyebrows shoot up through the roof- metaphorically.  
>Baghamon said nothing, but stepped towards his partner, and pressed his head against her.<br>She pulled away.

"And it's my fault that you turned into Narakamon in the first place!" she said, her voice raising in volume and pitch, "so it's my fault that this happened in the first place!"

Simon couldn't stop himself, now; he stepped out from behind the tree, before even Baghamon could say something. "None of us blame you, y'know." Andrea froze, her body going stiff.

"Go away," she growled, clenching her fists. "I didn't ask for your namby-pamby boyscout input."

"You're the only person that blames you!" Simon said right over her, spreading his hands out at his sides. "You don't need to- take responsibility for everything, or whatever!"

"Yes I do! If you idiots get yourself killed because I screwed up again, it's on my head!" Andrea yelled back before she could stop herself.  
>And there it was.<p>

Simon blinked a couple times, looking at the girl in front of him.  
>"Andrea..."<p>

"Go back to the others," Baghamon cut him off, stepping between Simon and Andrea. The boy faced off with the tiger for a second, before:

"No. I'm not going back 'less you guys are coming with."

Behind them raged the sounds of battle, the acrid smell of Orochimon's attack reaching even this far.

Andrea frowned, looking between Simon and her partner. There. It was out in the air, Simon knew it, her partner knew it, and...  
>"Let's go," she said shortly, stepping over to her D-GEAR on the ground, picking it up, and climbing onto Baghamon's back, and the tiger began to pad his way back to the battle.<br>They didn't see it, but Simon cracked a smile.

* * *

><p>A good five of Orochimon's seven fake heads had been felled, but the battle continued; Orochimon raged on as ever, presumably thanks to the influx of data he had received. Those still there had no time to ponder where the three had gone, until they entered the site of battle once more.<p>

StarShokunimon bounded his way alongside Simon, breathing heavy. "Progress ain't much, Si," the samurai rabbit said, sheathing his sword in his paintbrush scabbard. "We can't get at its head fast enough to-"

"We've got this," Andrea said quietly, hopping off of her partner's back. Baghamon stepped forward, Orochimon's center head glaring down at it. The cat was utterly dwarfed in comparison.  
>His expression was steely and even.<br>As if giving them a wide berth, the other combatants slowly backed away.

Baghamon did nothing, merely looked up at the snake.  
>Orochimon hissed, still keeping up its low chant of <em>Era. Era. Era.<em>

"We've got this," Andrea repeated quietly to herself.

Baghamon opened his mouth and roared; Andrea clutched her D-GEAR tight as it began to shake and glow bright white.  
>Like fire did the emblem imprint itself on Baghamon's chest as he was engulfed in the vivid light, and finally, he began to change.<p>

_**Virtuous digivolution, begin.**_

"Baghamon, virtuous digivolve to..." He grew in size significantly, thirteen feet and someodd inches tall. Sharp horns grew from behind his ears, while huge saber-teeth began to protrude over his lips. Gauntlet-like armor, emblazoned with stylized images of the sun, snapped into place on his front limbs, while two golden rings appeared around each of his hind legs. His tail thrashed and split into two, each tail identical and with a golden ring near the tip. Tremendous red claws grew from each toe, and for a finishing touch...  
>He reared back and roared loudly, smashing his forepaws into the ground; when they touched the earth again, they suddenly were engulfed in flames, crackling and spitting out embers.<br>"**BurningBaghamon**!"

Andrea stopped and stared, able to do nothing else; it seems the others were of much the same mind.  
>A second later, Simon let out a celebratory yell; the others quickly followed suit.<br>Why, even Julian slowly clapped, a smile playing on his lips if anyone would care to see it.

"Think I've got a second wind, aye," Ospreymon said, breathing heavy from where he stood somewhere to Orochimon's left; StarShokunimon clenched his paintbrush scabbard as he drew his sword again, and Triassimon stretched out both of his necks. MetalShayumon's tail thrashed, and even Nimbimon pawed at the ground alongside her cloud.

The tense silence was broken - even Orochimon seemed to stop to take this in.  
>"Let me," BurningBaghamon said evenly, casting a sideways glance at his teammates; at his word, they stepped back, giving him ample space.<p>

Like a flash, the new form of the cat leapt at Orochimon's real head's neck, roaring:  
>"<strong>Bagha Comet<strong>!"  
>His entire body lit up on fire, a snarl escaping both him and his target; for a split second, even in the daytime sun, he indeed looked like a very close comet until he smashed straight into Orochimon, hitting true, causing the snake to let out a mighty cry.<p>

Orochimon snarled and whipped his remaining heads around, attempting to dislodge the tiger that was now clinging fast to its real neck; it couldn't move fast enough to attack as BurningBaghamon gave another attack.  
>"<strong>Sabertooth Crunch<strong>!"  
>His long fangs glowing, he opened his mouth wide and bit down hard. Orochimon, trying one last time to dislodge BurningBaghamon from its body, gave one last roar... and began to glow.<p>

Into the sky, the stream of data shot, leaving an egg in its wake; BurningBaghamon stood, breathing heavily, and bowed his head.  
>And then the remainder of the team, digimon and human alike, began their cheer again.<p>

Andrea ran up to her partner, and he sunk his head low enough to be on level with her; tears were gathered in her eyes again, but a smile - a grin, even - was on her face. BurningBaghamon smiled back.

There was no time to celebrate, however. No more than a couple of minutes after the snake was done for, there was a chill- like a winter wind even in the humid jungle.  
>"Thanks for the signal light, kids," sneered a most familiar voice, and Forbidramon stepped out of the trees. Every digimon there snarled and tensed themselves, but they were stopped when another digimon entered the scene.<p>

What moved slowly out of the trees and now stood before them then was a digimon that made them feel at incredible unease. It was not monstrous or scary- no, the digimon before them was _eerie_.

She was humanoid in form - for the most part - but she stood eight-foot tall. Her skin was, for the most part, stark white- so purely so it almost glowed, but with jagged dark-purple markings marring it. Her hair was the same colour as the marks, tied into a long ponytail and fading to fire-like smoke. Dark, long ears poked through her hair, her arms long and monstrous, her hands huge and black. There were three silver rings around each wrist, and one on each upper leg, and bandages covered her eyes and places that would be considered indecent to show. Chains wrapped around her upper arms. She had no feet to speak of, her legs fusing together at the mid-calves and fading into flickering smoke.  
>On the palm of each hand, and in the middle of her abdomen, staring yellow eyes were fixed, pupils swivelling to look at each digimon in turn.<p>

She had an air of serenity, and despite her disfigurements, she was a beauty to behold.  
>... a beautiful white digimon...<p>

Nimon's perfect form.

"Hold up, hold up, _wait,_" Faris said, completely destroying the mood. "That thing was a** girl**?"

/Main/NoHoldsBarredBeatdown


	21. Chapter 21: Countdown

_Author's Note: Early chapterrrr for reasons. I won't be able to write between next Wednesday and the Monday after, so I hurried to finish chapter 21 so I could have lots of time. I won't publish 22 early because lol dramatic tension, but. WOOSH!_

* * *

><p>The situation was not tense. "Tense" was entirely too weak a word. It felt as though any slightest action would cause the entire situation to snap like a taut cord at the brink of breaking.<p>

Forbidramon laughed.  
>His wings fluttered silently in the cold wind that Sanmon brought with her. There was no glint in his red eyes. A nasty little smile crossed his face- but it wasn't one of real happiness, or even his usual smarmy attitude. It was the smile of a man - or as it was, a mon - who was past the point of snark and antagonization.<p>

He took one step foward, placing his heel on top of the egg that had once been Orochimon. To the surprise of none but the continued disgust of all, Forbidramon pressed his heel down, cracking the shell effortlessly. The little glowing pink orb left behind, the one he would normally have picked up and absorb... also got smashed underneath his foot. He did it slowly, deliberately, making sure all eyes were on it as he did.

Forbidramon didn't say anything. He merely stood back, folded his arms.  
>And then, one word:<br>"Go."

Sanmon's mouth was almost frozen in a thin smile. It din't change as she moved forward, effortlessly drifting, leaving only a faint trail of black smoke in her wake. She moved in front of Forbidramon, and then... stopped.

"What is she doing?" Toby said quietly, looking around at the other humans.

"Trying to bait us," Julian muttered back, keeping his eyes focused ahead. Sanmon merely floated, her bandages and hair drifting around her in the wind she summoned. And yet... she did not move.  
>Or so it seemed.<p>

With a puff of black smoke, she vanished, and before anyone could get a bearing on where she had gone, they had an answer.

The white woman digimon was suddenly directly before the gathered children (and Loromon, hiding behind Emily's legs); still with an unchanging taunting expression, she opened her mouth:  
>"<strong>Dark Area<strong>..."

She spread her arms wide, and then the pupils of the eyes on her palms contracted sharply. She let loose a hissing sigh, like steam escaping from a distant pipe, and then the children were engulfed in a black energy.

To the outside observer, it would appear that the six children and the little parrot had vanished entirely as the energy faded.  
>From the inside was a different story. The children were still where they were a moment before, standing to the sidelines of their digimon. All around them, there was a pulsating purple dome of strange, shadowy energy, casting everything they could see both inside and out in a violet tint, like stained glass.<p>

"What did you do!" StarShokunimon yelled, his lip curled, drawing his blade at a startling speed.

"We're right here!" Simon yelled uselessly, cupping his hands over his mouth; even at the top of his lungs, no sound escaped the shroud around them.

"_I_ didn't do anything," Forbidramon said right back, a nasty smile still on his features. "But Sanmon got the brats out of the way. So they don't interrupt, you understand. We can _take care_of them after we get rid of you lot."

"You-" BurningBaghamon spat, and before anyone could hold him back, he leapt at Forbidramon. "**Bagha Comet**!"

"Down, kitty!" Forbidramon replied almost instantaneously, throwing up his red hand. It began to glow - not with the light of the Virtue embedded within, but with an energy that sucked the light out from around it.  
>Despite the fact that he stood at a comparitively small eight feet tall to the tiger's thirteen, he neatly caught the tiger by the scruffy hair-like fur on his head.<br>Having a grip on BurningBaghamon, he instantly moved his robotic hand forward, slamming it into the cat's chest. "**Dark Wave**!"

BurningBaghamon made a face like he was being kicked in the gut, his mouth forced open and his pupils constricted, and he was was propelled backwards by the surge of power from his enemy's appendage. He stumbled, breathing heavy, snarling as he found his way back to balance and his feet.

"You may have reached perfect level," Forbidramon said, his voice even, taking one step _backwards_, "but you still don't stand a chance." He spoke with the utmost conviction- it wasn't a challenge, or a threat. It was _fact_.

His wings fluttered, and he took a few more steps back, effortlessly maneuvering around the felled trees that lay strewn around. Eventually, he stepped back into the trees. StarShokunimon, holding his sword at his side, bounced on his heels and dashed after their enemy...

And was immediately blind-sided, a dark shape smashing soundly into his body. Sanmon had again teleported to his side, effortlessly knocking him off balance and into the ground with only one of her big hands.

Even without changing her expression, Sanmon turned to the group of partners, and the way she tilted her head just so was nothing less than a challenge. An _I dare you_.  
>This was absolutely no ordinary Perfect-level.<p>

And meanwhile...  
>From inside the dome, hidden from the outside world... as far as the digimon could tell, the humans were gone. Instead, they were right there, watching, completely helpless to so much as encourage their partners. The walls were solid as stone, as they were quick to find out. Forbidramon occasionally flicked his eyes towards them now and again- but it didn't seem that he could see them.<p>

"We need to get out of here," Simon mumbled, hitting his hand futilely against the dome wall as StarShokunimon was again hit away like he were barely a gnat.

"Gee, y'think?" Faris replied, but he didn't have his usual smile, not even a bitter smirk, on his face. No, it was just a look of dismay as he placed a palm full against what held them in, cringing as he watched MetalShayumon get back-handed into a tree. It kept happening. Ariamon, leaping from her cloud, was knocked straight out of the air and into the ground. Triassimon couldn't move fast enough to get an aim on Sanmon, and she actually managed to grab and smash together both of his heads. She grabbed a hold of Ospreymon as he dove for her, blasting dark energy straight into his back.  
>They couldn't so much as touch her.<p>

"I can try to attack the walls," Loromon's weakened voice said suddenly- even Emily, to whose leg he was holding fast, had almost forgotten that he was there.

"You're only a child-level, though," the younger of the two girls said, gingerly picking up the parrot from around her leg. What was it with her and avian digimon? "And those things are thrashing our partners."

"Even if you got us out you'd just be in danger," Toby added on, but Loromon closed his eyes and turned his head, craning his neck to look outward.

And then:  
>"<strong>Firecracker<strong>!"  
>The little parrot cawed as he opened his mouth, firing a blast of colourful energy. It crackled and sparked, red and green and yellow, as it flew through the air... and to the humans' surprise, when the attack collided with the dome, it warped, but didn't harm it for more than a moment.<p>

That was more than enough. To a creature of data, the disturbance in the field around them was clear as day.  
>All eight digimon - six partners, Sanmon, and Forbidramon - outside stopped and turned. Ospreymon wriggled his way out of Sanmon's grip, flap-hopping his way backwards and away quickly.<p>

"Where did-"  
>"Was that-?"<p>

"Are you guys there!"

"There's a digimon in there with them," Forbidramon reasoned immediately, quietly..

"They're being concealed!" yelled Triassimon's blue-haired head, and then he suddenly whipped around, thrashing his tail at Sanmon, catching her just barely off guard. "**Tail Crusher**!"  
>Sanmon, once more, vanished into smoke- but not fast enough. The tail end (no pun intended) of the dinosaur's strike grazed one arm before it could vanish. A second later, she, reappeared right near Forbidramon, nearly hidden in the trees.<p>

"I cannot keep my eyes on all of them at once," she said, barely moving her lips.

Forbidramon cast his eyes sideways at her; his pupils had narrowed down to slits, and his expression was unreadable. "Then get more eyes."  
>Sanmon paused, then nodded her head.<p>

"... Yes, Forbidramon."

Her hesitation did not go unnoticed, but did go uncommented on, by Forbidramon.

"**A Thousand Eyes**..." Sanmon said those three little words, and then... there were six copies of her, all identical, floating silently- a total of seven. Only one of them - the original - looked to Forbidramon for a moment; he nodded, smiling just barely.  
>And then the six partner digimon realized just how hosed they were. With lightning quickness, all six duplicates of Sanmon vanished into thin air, and then reappeared all but on top of each Digimon. Six voices formed a chorus as their hands began to glow:<p>

"**Dark Area**..."

Yet again, to an outsider, the digimon would have appeared to disappear. It looked this way to the original Sanmon and to Forbidramon- like the battlefield had completely cleared.  
>What the children saw was a different thing indeed.<p>

Where each digimon had stood, the kids inside their dome could see another similar dome had formed around each of their partners and their respective copy of Sanmon. The domes that contained the Digimon overlapped from their perspective- but as the digimon looked around and yelled (and no sound was heard by those outside each- apparently, they were very good insulators of outgoing sound), it would be easy to assume that they could not see eachother's.  
>Each Sanmon merely floated, out of reach, as the six perfect-level Virtue Receivers tried to gain a bearing on their surroundings.<p>

"... we're in a pocket dimension," Julian said suddenly, blinking. "We're in the same place, but on a different plane."

"Right-o, kiddies!" said a voice from behind, and they spun on their heels. When they had been watching their partners, apparently, the real Sanmon and (the only) Forbidramon had entered the dome holding the six children and Loromon- and they quickly backed away from him, pushing themselves as close as they could to the wall. "Why, you'd almost think you understood a single thing that was happening to you."

"Th'heck is going _on_!" Simon blurted out, his eye almost twitching.

"Well, your partners are going to be deleted within the hour, and you kids are going to die, if that's what you mean," Forbidramon said; Sanmon merely smiled, her face even and cold. When the humans' eyes went wide, he laughed that horrible, nasty, laugh. Again, it wasn't even of amusement.  
>"But don't worry. I can't take your Virtues from you as long as your little pets are using them."<p>

He tilted his head towards the other domes.

When the child nearest him - Faris - turned to look, he suddenly got Forbidramon slamming a boot into the small of his back, forcing him to the ground. "But if any of your partners manage to defeat their little opponent," he said, completely nonchalantly, as though it were impossible, "I can still thrash you miserable little urchins as a precautionary measure to get them to yield."  
>Julian almost leapt forward, his fists and jaw clenched, but he forced himself into restraint. Forbidramon, no more smile on his face, slowly released the pressure from the boy, and then kicked him away; Julian, Toby, and Emily, all as one, dropped to their knees to inspect him.<p>

"Freakin'... psychopath," Faris coughed, trying to find his breath.

Forbidramon cast a single look down at them, then at Simon and Andrea both still standing; his tail twitched. "Sanmon is a master of these areas. Open two of them anywhere, and it's teleportation. Here, it's a battle arena."  
>He looked up, then, and across. He smiled.<p>

He chose not to tell them that while the digimon could not see eachother, they could see their partners here, trapped with him, clear as day. He wanted to see that realization come on its own.

_And now for the shows._

"... what are you doing!"

_(note: all of the following events happen simultaneously.)_

* * *

><p>BurningBaghamon looked around himself frantically, snarling deeply. He was encased in a purple dome, that much was clear- and he couldn't see a one of his allies in battle.<br>But there, not far, were their human partners, backing away from Forbidramon.

"_Andrea_!" the tiger roared, his pupils narrowing to slits. He looked up- and stared straight at the ephemeral Sanmon, floating above him.

"Are you ready?" she said oh so quietly, lowering herself down to ground level.  
>She got a response in the form of the tremendous tiger leaping at her, teeth bared, his sabre-teeth glowing.<p>

Sanmon, as may be predictable, vanished, appearing behind BurningBaghamon, grabbing him by the tails, both bunched in one hand. Albeit less effortlessly than she threw him before, she hoisted him up, throwing him directly into the wall. He snarled, gritting his teeth as he slammed into the rock-solid barrier.  
>But what she did next was downright disturbing.<p>

She laughed. It was bitter, it was cold- the most terrifying laugh the cat had ever heard. The sound sent a chill through the tiger's heart, and he reared down. "What is with you, anyway?" he spat.

"Why do you follow her?" she said quietly, still smiling. When her opponent seemed confused: "The girl."

BurningBaghamon roared, then, no words for the rage. "She's my partner!"

"She is the reason you became the monster."

"I don't care." For a split second, it almost seemed as though Narakamon's form shadowed over the burning cat. "We move on. We move past fear."

"So be it," Sanmon replied softly, and spread her arms out wide. She did not move.  
>For a moment, BurningBaghamon was stunned.<br>"Attack me," she said, plain as day.

_If Iguamon were here,_ he thought immediately, _he'd say it was a trap._

... ... ...  
>He didn't care.<p>

The tiger reared onto his back legs, and gave a mighty roar:  
>"<strong>Burning Earth<strong>!"

He smashed his feet into the ground and pounded them like he were beating a drum, and from below their feet (or, his feet and Sanmon's trailing smoke), the earth began to crack and up-heave. From between the cracks, fire began to spew.  
>Sanmon made no move to avoid it. She was struck by the flames, and keeled over.<p>

"If you defeat me, Forbidramon will all but kill her," she said, with almost no tone in her voice- it was impossible to discern whether she was mocking, or...

BurningBaghamon swore under his breath. "Then I'll kill him," he said decisively.

Sanmon smiled.

* * *

><p>"Where's everyone else!" MetalShayumon cried out, her nostrils flaring. Electronic yellow eyes glared daggers at Sanmon's even face, the shark clenching and un-clenching her hands.<br>Sanmon merely pointed- directly at the children.

"... What are you-" MetalShayumon began, but Sanmon shook her head.

"They will not be harmed yet."

"Yeah, right, lady," the shark replied, sarcastic even in a rage, "you can't slip that kind of crap past me. I'm the master of sarcasm, yeom." No, she couldn't suppress her vocal tic even in such a situation, but instead of a chipper tag to her words, it was spat, almost like a swear word.

"Why do you do that?" Sanmon said, looking the shark up and down.

"What?"

"Cover all of your insecurities with sarcasm and humor," replied the white lady.

"**Ebb and Flow**!" Like she were throwing boomerangs, MetalShayumon whipped her body around in a circle, releasing both of her arm guards. Like spinning blades, they homed in straight onto Sanmon.  
>She teleported her way out of their range, slowly drifting her way back as they returned - indeed, like boomerangs - to their thrower.<br>"Figures you'd do that," the fish mumbled, shaking her head.

"You didn't answer me."

"Why should I, yeom? No offense but you're kind of sided with a psychopath who wants to _kill all of us_!"

"I want to know," Sanmon replied simply.

MetalShayumon glowered, and took a step towards her enemy. "Sure talky, for once," she mumbled, but then shook her head. She looked back up at Sanmon.  
>"If you can't get rid of bad thoughts, you can always make fun of them. <strong>Seeker Torpedo<strong>!" From her chestplate blasted two twin shark-like torpedoes, firing straight towards Sanmon.

This time, she did not so much as attempt to avoid it. She took the brunt of the attack, drifting backwards from the force, and looked over at the children.  
>Where Faris was being shoved into the dirt.<br>"It's admirable- to have a way to cope. But humor can't save him," the human-like digimon mused, "if..."

"Now that you're talkin' at all, really need to learn to stop talkin' in a battle, yeom."  
>That comment was made right before MetalShayumon smashed herself into Sanmon's in a full-body tackle.<p>

Even as she was being tackled into the ground, Sanmon smiled.

* * *

><p>Triassimon didn't bother with formalities- he didn't say a word. The second he realized where he was and what was going on, both mouths opened wide and began to spew flames at Sanmon.<br>"**Twin Flare**!"

Sanmon, likewise, chose to waste absolutely no time; she teleported herself out of the way of the (literal) line of fire and behind Triassimon. She was dwarfed by the dinosaur, but she appeared in the air behind and between his heads. She stretched out her arms, grabbing both of Triassimon's heads, and her hands began to glow with black energy. It surged from her and into him, and both heads roared.

"You know the truth, don't you?" Sanmon said, not even trying to speak above the noise; regardless, the red-haired head turned around, pupils narrowed. He grit his teeth, biting back the pain that still racked through his body from Sanmon's attack.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, his blue head still snarling with pain and facing away.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?"

Triassimon's blue head's eyes flicked to the side, taking quick survey.

In a move that seemed to disregard his size for speed, he turned himself around. In the process, the dinosaur grabbed the body of a small tree - or, small compared to him, standing at eighteen feet - and swung it at the humanoid digimon like he were swinging a baseball bat one-handedly.

Sanmon raised her brow as though lifting eyebrows, and quickly vanished. She reappeared only after the trunk had swung past her, floating in the same space as before.  
>"For the virtue of adaptability," she said quietly, "you rely a lot on violence for most of your problems."<p>

"For someone on Forbidramon's side, you don't seem to be too interested in killing us."

Sanmon laughed, and though the dinosaur wouldn't know, it was unlike how she had laughed at BurningBaghamon. It brought to mind a snide, self-assured noblewoman. She covered her mouth with one of her huge hands- and when she took it away, she was grinning, baring sharp teeth.  
>And <em>that<em> was what was disturbing. It looked like it was too wide for her face, lopsided, her teeth long and thin.  
>"Very perceptive. Put it together. You're a smart little dinosaur, aren't you?"<p>

Triassimon paused for a moment, and then...  
>All four of his pupils narrowed. For a split second, he stared at Sanmon.<br>"**Twin Flare**!" Triassimon roared, the blue and the red streams of flame meeting to form a pillar of white fire shooting at Sanmon. She made no move, and it blasted her soundly.

Even as she reeled from the hit, Sanmon smiled.

* * *

><p>Ospreymon was not happy to be in such an enclosed space- between his size and the fact that it didn't give him much room to fly, before he registered even so much that a copy of Sanmon was with him, he felt at remarkable unease.<br>The fact that he got sucker-punched in the back of the head only helped to progress that sense of unease.

"Ach!" the bird yelped, whipping his body around, and... Sanmon was nowhere to be found. His face the image of contempt, he kicked off the ground. It was a cramped space, but there was enough room for him to take to the air; flapping his wings hard, the second he reached a place he could hover, he was struck again, like an arrow through his body. The bird fell, then, to the earth again.  
>Sanmon stood before the fallen osprey, floating quietly.<p>

"If I wanted to," she said, so quiet it was almost inaudible, "I could take you and all of your friends out in the blink of an eye."

Ospreymon forced himself to his feet, staring down at Sanmon; she didn't move at all, letting him get up. "Aye, if that's so, then why don't you?" The eye on Sanmon's abdomen swiveled up to meet his gaze.  
>She said nothing.<br>Ospreymon growled, and then took a hop and a step back, and began to beat his wings hard. "**Gale Storm**!" From the ground, rocks and debris began to kick up in the air he stirred up. He opened his beak wide, and emitted a blast of snow and shards of ice. Sanmon did not move, even as all the fragments in the wind - some as large as baseballs - smashed into her, or simply passed through the smoky parts of her body.

The bird stopped, tilting his head at the strange digimon in front of him.

She was facing her head away from him, looking off into the distance- into the dome where the children, her original self, and Forbidramon were watching. Ospreymon kept himself tense, ready for an attack or any sudden movements. What he wasn't prepared for was when Sanmon spoke.  
>"Would you follow the girl even if you believed she was wrong?"<p>

"..." Ospreymon glowered at the digimon in front of him. "What is this, some kind of trick to get my guard down?"

No response.

For a moment, there was tense silence, before the bird nodded his head once.

"Yes. Right or wrong, Emily is my partner."

Sanmon turned her head to look at him- or, not look at him.  
>Her hand glowing, she struck out at him with blinding speed; still tensed, he was actually prepared for it, and leapt back, slashing out in return with one of his feet, claws glowing blue. "<strong>Biting Winter<strong>!" It cut across her, and from the gashes on the black hand, smoke began to pour as her hand began to freeze over, while the wounds began to close.

Sanmon smiled.

* * *

><p>"What's going on?" Nimbimon said quietly, her mouth tugged into a frown but tone calm. She cast her eyes over to the only thing she could see outside of the dome she was currently encased in- and her eyes went wide. Their partners... ... stuck with Forbidramon.<br>The only thought that crossed her mind was to get out.  
>She looked around, seeing nothing marring the sides of the dome; if not for the scenery outside, the view would be completely identical in all directions.<p>

"It's almost not worth the effort, is it," Sanmon said, to herself, from beside, fading into view; the sheep took no time in turning, keeping her eyes focused on the strange woman-like digimon. "You're not much of a fighter, are you, sheep."  
>Keeping her gaze fixed, Nimbimon slowly shook her head.<p>

"I'm not. But if you plan to hurt any of them," the sheep said immediately, and her eyes narrowed, "then I don't _have_to be a fighter to take you down."

Sanmon stared at the sheep, and smirked. "_I_don't," she said, mockingly, "but Forbidramon will."

"**Downpour**!" Nimbimon cried without a second of hesitation, and over Sanmon's head there gathered dark clouds. A shining rain poured down on her, the droplets of light cutting straight through her body. Black smoke began to pour out as the rain cleared, and her body began to repair itself- like watching a healing wound in super time-lapse.

"Darkness and light," the darker of the digimon mused, flexing and extending her hand, the pupil in the center of it staying trained on Nimbimon. "As much damage as you can do to me, I can do the same."  
>As if to demonstrate, she threw her hand up. Her hand began emitting black energy, which was then fired at the sheep's body.<p>

Nimbimon let out a cry, her legs buckling as the darkness seeped into her body. As it was absorbed, the area around it began to glow white and move inward, as though it were eating the darkness away.

"But darkness isn't evil," Nimbimon said quietly, after she forced herself back onto her feet, lowering her head, looking at her opponent closely.  
>"Do you want to be doing this?" the sheep said, after a moment.<p>

Sanmon smiled.

* * *

><p>StarShokunimon's ears twitched. He gripped his sword tight, and behind his metal visor, he closed his eyes.<p>

When Sanmon appeared with a puff of smoke behind him, without a moment of hesitation he turned around and swung his blade. It struck true, slashing across Sanmon's shoulder. Black smoke seeped out.

"Very nice," Sanmon responded as she began to heal, drifting backwards and away from the rabbit. She spoke as though she were evaluating a painting or something equally low-key.

"Thank you," the rabbit replied.

And that was all there was to it. Unlike every other one of his companions, what happened next was a rapid, fast-paced battle- an onlooker would hardly be able to keep track of the teleporting Sanmon and the quick-footed StarShokunimon, blasts of dark energy intertwined with the shine reflecting off of a sword-blade. They did not speak, saving their breath for calling attacks and for staying on their feet.  
>With a well-placed sword-strike, Sanmon fell to the ground, the rabbit standing over her.<p>

StarShokunimon held his sword up for just a moment, and then... his arm fell, his sword going to his side.

With the hand not holding his weapon, he held out one hand, extending it to the digimon on the ground.

Sanmon looked at up at him with the utmost confusion, an expression of contempt across her lips. "What are you doing?"

"Well, first," StarShokunimon replied, a faint smile playing on his lips. "I can't attack a digimon that can't fight back." Sanmon's expression was nothing short of disgust, but her face was frozen in shock when the rabbit next spoke.  
>"And second..."<p>

He said nothing, but the expression on his face said it all.

There was a pause, a moment of stark silence.  
>Sanmon smiled, and then...<p>

She vanished.

Every copy of Sanmon did the same; the smile graced her lips, and then she vanished into smoke, until all that was left was the Sanmon standing astride Forbidramon in the dome holding the children. ... and then, every one of the purple domes fell away, fading into nothingness. Every digimon came into view of the others, the humans fading back into view of their partners, Loromon clinging still to Emily.

Forbidramon was frozen where he stood, staring ahead blankly. The humans ran away from him and closer to their partners.  
>He turned to Sanmon, and it came out as a feral roar:<p>

"_What are you doing!_"

Sanmon said nothing; she merely turned to Forbidramon.

He was frozen, his lip curled up in a horrible expression. He slowly began to shake, his red hand going up to hold his face. His tail was thrashing like mad, his wings shivering and jerking at random. His legs buckled, and he was almost doubled over. He slowly spread the fingers of his hand, and one shining red eye glared out.  
>"I'm not going to let you <em>urchins<em> win!" he outright _screamed_, suddenly, the sound ripping its way out of his throat. "I'm not going to _lose_!"

With that, he bolted forward, smashing his entire body into the nearest digimon- StarShokunimon. The rabbit, quick-thinking as he was, had absolutely no chance to react, both of Forbidramon's mismatched hands closing around his throat.


	22. Chapter 22: Zero Hour

The strangled noises coming from StarShokunimon's throat were almost unbearable. The other digimon were torn; to attack Forbidramon would be to catch their friend in the crossfire. Loromon, in Emily's arms, was flapping his wings and squawking, beyond words.  
>Simon was almost frozen to the spot.<p>

BurningBaghamon was the first to act, though it took perhaps ten seconds, as he was frozen in shock. Andrea jerked herself forward, and BurningBaghamon leapt forward, snarling, at Forbidramon. He didn't even get a chance to call an attack name- in the blink of an eye, Forbidramon threw up his red hand to deflect the tiger's attack. He effortlessly batted the cat away, but it was a reflexive motion that cost him.

StarShokunimon jerked himself away, all but ripping his way out of Forbidramon's other grip- even one-handed, it was powerful.

"No," Forbidramon hissed, his pupils contracting, pushing himself onto his hands as well as his feet, an awkward sort of bear-walk.  
>He rushed at the rabbit, then. StarShokunimon barely had time to push himself to his feet and put his blade up in defense before his foe collided with him, Forbidramon's driving the spikes on the lone spaulder on his right shoulder into the rabbits' abdomen.<p>

"What is your _problem_?" StarShokunimon huffed, completely winded as he hopped backwards to avoid being bulldozed into the nearest tree.

"Not going to lose," Forbidramon replied as he pushed himself up right, his wings twitching. "Kill each of you one at a time if I have to, I'm not going to lose." He was slumped over, his arms hanging loose like those of a ragdoll.  
>StarShokunimon took a step back, clutching his sword tight. He grit his teeth, breathing out slow.<p>

"Crap," Simon said low, shaking his head. "This guy's out of his mind."

"What do we..." Toby mumbled, looking around frantically.

None of them - not Toby, not the combatants, none of the other humans, none of the partners, not even Sanmon, seemed to notice the slow phase-in of a figure, standing in the trees.

Deadlocked in a silent wait for the first to strike, StarShokunimon and Forbidramon stood; each breath was tense, Forbidramon's tattered wings fluttering behind him.  
>Ospreymon was the first to take a step closer, but the rabbit spoke simply, not even turning his head.<p>

"No."

"Let us help you, yeom!" MetalShayumon said, taking a step closer; again, the rabbit said the same.

"No."

The other five looked at eachother; what was he doing? Forbidramon could wipe the walls with any of them alone.  
>"He's Honor," Triassimon said after a moment. That was it- it was a perfect level versus a perfect level. As far as StarShokunimon cared, it was even, and he wouldn't take part in an unbalanced fight.<p>

"Your partner's nuts, man," Faris said from beside, putting his hands in his pockets. Simon smiled a bit shakily.

The battle began in the blink of an eye- almost when they were expecting that nothing would happen, he lurched forward.  
>StarShokunimon immediately kicked hard on the ground, his feet blazing with energy.<p>

"**Astral Bolt**!"

He crashed back down to earth without hitting his target, as Forbidramon proceeded to leap into the air, his wings not making a noise as they beat the air.  
>"Idiot," Forbidramon said quietly. "<strong>Nightfall<strong>!"  
>In almost a twisted copy of the rabbit's move, Forbidramon threw himself down to the ground, striking out with only one foot. Around him grew a black aura; perhaps surprisingly, he didn't actually aim for StarShokunimon, but instead hit the ground next to the rabbit. The aura burst with an explosive level of force on contact with the ground, sending the rabbit reeling.<p>

"Haven't seen that one before," Ospreymon muttered under the chorus of yells of encouragement that humans and digimon alike were giving. He, and his fellows, were still having to fight every instinct in their bodies to rush forward into the fight.

"You don't think that he's shown you everything he can do," Sanmon said quietly; the humans and digimon alike jumped. They had almost forgotten she was there.

"**Screeching Howl**!" StarShokunimon countered, opening his mouth wide and releasing an ear-splitting sound; the onlookers covered their ears hastily, except for the ever-stoic Sanmon. Forbidramon actually growled, taking the full brunt of the attack.

It didn't quite register yet in his mind:  
>This was the first successful attack that any of them had gotten on Forbidramon.<br>It had quite well registered in Forbidramon's mind, though.

And it became quite obvious that it did, because he snarled deeply.  
>"I'll kill you," he spat, low and deliberate. "I'll kill you," he repeated, stepping forward.<br>It became a mantra- he kept repeating the phrase under his breath, each step deliberate, until...

"**Claw Crusher**!"  
>He threw his red hand forward, catching the rabbit around the breadth of his body, and began to - indeed - crush him. StarShokunimon, his arms pinned to his sides and the breath being forced out of his body, couldn't move to defend himself.<p>

"Hnk!"

Faintly, ever so faintly, his body began to gain the glow of data.

"**EGAKUMON!**"  
>The word ripped from Simon's throat; he almost began to rush forward, but he was beat to the punch by five huge bodies rushing past him.<p>

"**Seeker Torpedo**!"

"**Twin Flare**!"

"**Nimbus Crash**!"

"**Seagull Dive**!"

"**Bagha Comet**!"

MetalShayumon, Triassimon, and Nimbimon's attacks collided with Forbidramon, followed by both Ospreymon and BurningBaghamon smashing both of their bodies into him.  
>He had no choice but to let StarShokunimon go.<p>

Forbidramon panted, skidding backwards and digging his heels into the ground. He looked... ... like he had just taken five near-simultaneous attacks, but not at all like he was about to go down.  
>It wasn't a heartening fact.<p>

StarShokunimon looked at his allies, unsure what to make of it; and yet he turned and took a step back, stepping into line with his teammates.

"Oh, come on now," Forbidramon said, his voice dripping, "six against one? Oh, whatever will I do?"  
>He laughed a breathy, mocking laugh. "Save me time."<p>

There was time for a momentary staredown, before Forbidramon said, throwing out his hands:  
>"<strong>Har Megiddo<strong>!"

The ground beneath the six began to shake, the borders of the attack a mere ten feet away from where their human partners stood; even so, they could feel the vibration, like the worst earthquake any of them could ever have known.

The earth began to crack, and from the gaps there sprang up tentacle-like shadows, grabbing at the legs of six partner digimon. Ospreymon was able to lift himself out of their range- initially. The tendrils followed him straight up into the air, curling around his legs and dragging him back down. They didn't move their captives at all; while the digimon were busy looking down and trying to escape, they didn't notice Forbidramon.

From both hands he released powerful blasts of... interestingly enough, pure white energy. It swept over the digimon, and they cried out in agony, even as the tendrils were disintegrated by the light.

They were outright paralyzed - it hurt to move in the aftermath. They braced themselves for follow-up attacks from Forbidramon.  
>That much did not happen.<p>

He was snarling, and holding onto his red arm, which was pulsating with the white light that had struck them moments before, immobilized.

"The virtue talisman," Julian said quickly from behind, his eyebrows going up; when his fellows looked at him, he explained. "If the surge of data that he gave the other digimon could make them lose their minds, there's no way that connection with Yggdrasil isn't doing something to him."  
>Sanmon bowed her head, but said nothing.<p>

Loromon nodded hastily, and spoke fast: "It's the Sovereigns- trying to force the connection shut."

Andrea put it together in her head first, and cupped her hands to yell out.  
>"You don't have to beat him!" she called, and Forbidramon's head snapped up to stare as their partners carefully turned to look.<p>

"You just have to stall!" Emily joined in, catching on.

"Aye," Ospreymon mumbled. "Sounds like a plan."

"If we don't get totally creamed first, yeom," MetalShayumon said, but nodded her head and prepared herself.

"I'm not going to lose," Forbidramon snarled. "Not to the likes of you." He took a lurching step forward, slow and forced, ilike he were trying to walk through setting concrete. "Lord Era was wrong to let you last this long." Another slow, deliberate step.  
>He stopped, and laughed.<br>"You hadn't done anything yet. Nothing important. You were just taking down cannon fodder. You couldn't even find your last teammate. 'Not a threat until they find him,' he said. And he said you'd never find him." He chuckled, holding up his hand, the Virtue sigil still burning white on his hand. "And you won't. But you've become a liability."

Deep breath.

"And I can't let you win. **Har Meggi**-!"

Forbidramon was stopped in the middle of his attack by a white shape smashing into him.

"Stop." Sanmon stood over Forbidramon after she crashed into him, sending him off-balance and to the ground- for just a split second.

"Shut up," Forbidramon said back decisively, not looking at her.

"Then fight me," she said, totally even of tone and of expression.  
>There was a complete dead silence- one could hear the rustling of the leaves of the trees around the razed area they fought in, the sounds of digimon a distance away.<p>

"No." Forbidramon shoved past her- acting like she wasn't there - and leapt into the air. "**Nightfall**!"  
>Once more, he smashed to earth, the attack going off like a bomb. Sanmon stared after him, but did not move.<p>

Shaking off the effects of the last attack, they didn't have time to avoid this one- and so took the brunt of it as well.  
>"We're not doing the stalling thing so great, yeom," MetalShayumon drawled, shaking her body as though to rid herself of pain.<p>

"Best defense is a good offense, and for one, I'm getting tired of his smug mug," BurningBaghamon reasoned, and breathed out heavily, and proceeded to rush at Forbidramon. Sanmon vanished out of the way and back behind the children, falling silent again. Each, in turn, fell into line after, rushing at their enemy; StarShokunimon held back the longest, until there was no other option.

What happened then was a series of back-and-forth; one of the partners would get a hit and be countered by a strike in return- and it seemed like no ground at all was being gained. The human partners played cheerleader, yelling out words of encouragement; Sanmon stayed close-mouthed.

"**Starlight Blade**!" StarShokunimon bellowed, jumping towards Forbidramon and bringing his sword down from over his head.

Forbidramon let out a roar, stepping backwards and clutching at his chest- as the blade crossed, there was a huge gaping wound in its wake, glowing purple.

Forbidramon froze. He stumbled his way backwards, mouthing words with no sound. His eyes slowly faded from red to yellow.

And then suddenly, they heard a slow clap.  
>The figure that nobody had noticed stepped out of the trees, and everyone turned to look.<p>

Standing before them was...

A man.  
>He was tallish, and scrawny, and looked like he was in his mid-thirties. His hair was dirty-blond, and he had square glasses perched on the end of his nose, in front of slate-grey eyes. He wore a white buttoned-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of dirty sneakers, and black pants. He looked so thoroughly out of place in the Digital World - not least of all because he was another human face.<p>

Regardless, the team tensed.  
>The man laughed, a good-natured laugh. "Hello."<p>

For a second, their guards were down.

And then Sanmon snarled, her lip curled. The man turned, raising his eyebrows and looking quizzical. "_You're_in a foul mood, aren't you?"

"Who are you?" Simon said, not relaxing. Of all the hundred questions running through his mind, that was the only one he could find the words for.

The man paused. He smiled at the humans, and then looked at their partners. He nodded in acknowledgement.  
>He kept smiling as he turned to Forbidramon, and adjusted his glasses. "I think I've seen enough."<p>

The man snapped his fingers.

Sanmon suddenly screamed out in pain, her body engulfed by white light. Forbidramon, just as suddenly, forced his way past the line of partner digimon, almost stumbling.  
>"Sa-"<p>

For a moment, Forbidramon's eyes widened.  
>With a flash of light, Sanmon was no more- and in her place lay the little black creature that was Reimon, unconscious. In the man's hand, he now held a pure shining-white orb, about the size of a Digicore, if not a little bit larger.<p>

"What-" Triassimon growled, all four eyes narrowing.

"I'll be taking this back, now."  
>The man looked down at Reimon on the ground, turning the sphere over in his hand.<p>

"Touch her, and-" Forbidramon snarled, rearing over as though preparing to attack.

"You'll what?" the man replied, raising an eyebrow and putting one hand on his hip.

Loromon - who had, by this point, shuffled off to hide behind a log, flapped his way over to Reimon, gently picking her up, looking up with confusion at the odd man.  
>Without a moment of pause, the man grabbed the black digimon out of Loromon's wings, clutching her tight and holding her entirely by her tail.<p>

Forbidramon stared at the man, and then once more reared over.  
>"If you touch her," he said low, every single word said with the utmost seriousness. "I'll fucking <em>kill you<em>."

The man stared the digimon straight in the eye, his expression one of contempt and disgust.  
>"Disgusting. Is it just the Virtue going to your head, or does your dedication to it override your loyalty to me?"<p>

_This_...  
>Was Era?<p>

The entire group was struck dumb.

"Well, I've got what I need," he said cheerfully, holding up the orb in his hand. He put the limp Reimon on the ground. He placed the heel of his foot on her, and like Forbidramon had done to the digicore, he pressed down.  
>Reimon exploded into bits of data, a pitch-black egg all that was left.<p>

Forbidramon roared, surging forward- before he was frozen in his paces with the slight wave of a hand.  
>"Down, boy. Really, you'd think you'd <em>learn<em>by now."

Era - if it was Era - laughed, putting his hand on his hip again. "You know, now that I've got this," and he indicated the thing in his hand, "I think I'll be taking this back, too. After all, it won't make much of a difference anymore."

Forbidramon suddenly crumpled to the ground, a blaze of shining white light overtaking him. Bit by bit, the light sapped from his body and into the thing that Era held, though it didn't increase in size.  
>The kids didn't even look to see what was left behind; they just stared at the man in front of them.<p>

Era smiled.

"Nice to meet you, kids," he said in the most pleasant voice. Coming from anyone else, it might have seemed genuine.  
>Nimbimon, of all digimon, was the first to step forward, her eyes narrowed- another wave of the hand later, she found herself frozen, along with her teammates.<br>"I hope you don't mind me being so quick to leave, but I'm a busy guy! Of course, I _could_ just obliterate every single one of you on the spot," and he _pointedly_let his eyes drift to the kids here - he did mean every single one, not just the Digimon, "but at this point it'd just be a waste of my time. Be grateful."

And with a surge of white light, the man was gone.

They couldn't say anything. Every child and digimon present was completely, utterly dumbstruck, left staring where Era stood a moment before. ... _that_ was what they were up against.  
>They were <em>so<em>hosed.

And then a noise ripped straight through their trains of thoughts, derailing them in _the_most impressive way possible.

"_SAMPAMON_!"

Forcing himself off of the ground, the dark shape left over from Forbidramon stumbled up in a graceless way. He barely made it the five feet to the digitama on the ground before he fell back down, pulling the egg up into his arms and onto his lap.

As blind as they had been a second ago, the boy was just as blind to the outside world, hugging the dark egg to his chest.

Julian let loose a swear word, putting his hands in his pockets.

The new boy turned his head, suddenly. His face was covered in dirt and grime, his long blond hair thoroughly unkempt, his wide eyes murky green and framed with tears.  
>He met the gaze of the six children standing behind him, the six digimon slowly approaching, and scrambled to his feet. He looked almost like he was going to fall down, like he had little control over his limbs. Breathing hard, he stared straight at - almost <em>through<em>- the others...

"... I-"

And still clutching the egg to his chest, took off like a shot into the trees.

"Oh, frick!" Simon blurted out, jerking his own body forward.

"At the risk of sounding like we're chasing a criminal," Faris said, slowly, thoughtfully. "... _don't let him get away for the love of god_!"

A flash of brilliant light followed the announcement- all six digimon returned to their child forms, and darted alongside their partners as they took off running after.

* * *

><p>"Do you think they'll believe him, Lord Era?"<p>

Era smirked, looking over the orb in his hand.  
>Would those brats ever believe it, if told what he had done?<p>

It hadn't been mind control. It hadn't been _more than mind control_. It had simply been breaking down the little brat's identity, reformatting his shell of sorts. Everything the children had seen was a shell- a projection, a character created. He could have made a hundred Forbidramon with the exact same personality- even memories.  
>But really, that wouldn't have given him... he looked at the orb in his hands. He couldn't have created one specific property.<p>

"Never."  
>But then, it didn't really matter if they did or not. He had what <em>he<em> needed from this equation. And that aside, this was _far_more amusing.

* * *

><p><em>oh god oh god they're going to kill me they're going to kill me and im going to die oh god<em>

"Hey!"

_but it wasnt me it wasnt i swear oh god im sorry_

"Slow down!"

"We're not going to- frig!"

"_Please_, stop!"

His heart was pounding in his ears. How on earth could he explain it? He couldn't- he had a hard time even putting it to words, himself. But it hadn't been him. It _hadn't_. Era- had used him as a vessel but it hadn't been- oh, what on earth was he even talking about?

He clutched the egg closer to his chest, disregarding that the lack of use of his arms was making it almost impossible to keep his balance. He couldn't care less. It wasn't important. All that was important was getting away, and-

_Thmp._ Over a root and into the ground. It was almost inevitable that he'd trip, in retrospect.  
>"Crap."<br>The egg had fallen out of his arms just soon enough to avoid being under him, almost as though it acting out of self-preservation. It rolled to a stop about two feet away.

The pounding of feet was amplified with an ear to the ground; twelve sets of feet were on the approach, carrying their owners closer. It felt like being a fox, cornered by the hounds of the hunt.

There was a general murmur from behind, as the footsteps came to a stop.  
>He couldn't find it in him to move. He closed his eyes tight and waited.<p>

"C'mon, Egakumon."

Footsteps drew closer. The next thing he felt was a heavy weight on one shoulder, huge claws on a big, rounded hand.  
>"Hey, c'mon, broski."<p>

He cracked an eye open- sitting in front of him were something that... maybe, in some odd alternate dimension, could have been called a rabbit(?), with one of his hands outstretched; and beyond him, a boy, sitting in a crouching position. A pair of goggles rested over his beanie cap, and this boy was peering at him, smiling faintly... and he was holding the black egg.

The blond boy's eyes widened, and he forced himself up, pushing himself up with his hands.  
>"Give me that!"<p>

"We're not going to do anything to you, geeze," a girl said from behind.

"At least pretend to be sympathetic," said another boy's voice, dry and even.

"Coming from _you_."

The boy in the hat laughed, looking at the others; and then he set the digitama down. He rose. The rabbit backed away, and the boy walked over, and once again he knelt.  
>He held out a hand, still faintly smiling.<p>

"Name's Simon," he said, "and I _think_you're who we've been looking for."

The new boy stared up at Simon, and scrambled to his feet without the aid, starting to back up. "Ah- I-"

"Oh, just shyaddap and let us help you," said the rabbit, putting his hands on his hips.

He turned around, back to Simon; there stood five others, each with a digimon at their side. They waved awkwardly, some distinctly more uncomfortable than others; others were acting like they were greeting old friends.  
>A girl with overalls and a high ponytail, a seagull standing at her side: "My name's Emily." It was hard to tell how she was feeling- her voice was chipper, but...<p>

A boy with dyed-green bangs and a headband, holding a dolphin in his arms: "Faris, yo." He sounded casual, but there was a hint of unease.

A very short boy, the hood of his hoodie almost covering his mouth, a sheep standing guard: "'M' Toby." He was completely at ease.

The only other girl, long-haired and darker-skinned than the others, with a tiger circling her legs: "Andrea." She seemed the most uncomfortable of all.

The final, a tall boy with spiky hair, a dinosaur standing stoic nearby: "Julian." He was completely even of voice, and like the first girl, it was difficult to tell.

The new boy took a step or two back, and was stopped when the digitama was shoved into his arms. Simon stepped to the side and threw one of his arms over his shoulders. There was a short silence. Twelve pairs of eyes were fixed on him, digimon and human alike.

He let loose a heavy breath.

"... Lukas. Luke."


	23. Chapter 23: True Colours

_It's flashback time, kiddies!_

* * *

><p>Plumon looked up at the sky, blinking very slowly. It was raining- hard. The thunder and lightning almost put her off, made her want to turn and seek shelter. Almost.<br>She had wandered off from the others- not that they weren't used to that. But it had been almost a week, now, since she had been at Deekamon's hut, and surely, they were starting to worry about her. She had worried for herself, too- she was only at Baby II level, and combat wasn't even close to an option. If an Agent came through, she would have to hide in the underbrush and hope, hiding the red gem on her forehead in case it gave her away.

To her massive surprise, it had worked, and she had arrived here just moments ago- a place she had never seen before, quite a ways away from Deekamon's hut. She was tired and hungry, but a tight knot was tied in her gut that kept her from becoming even the slightest bit weary.

She couldn't explain the feeling that told her that she had to come here. She hadn't told the others, didn't want to give them false hope. That's what she told herself, anyway- but there was no doubt in her mind.  
>This was the time, this was the place. Just... not for them. She couldn't bear to tell them that.<p>

She didn't know that her friends would have to wait just shy of two weeks before they would feel the same.

She squinted her eyes, for suddenly there was a light that stung to look straight at, accompanied by a deafening sound, like the rush of all the ocean's water at once. It was brighter and louder than any lightning-strike or thunder-crash.  
>The light faded almost as soon as it had come, and Plumon's face, despite the light's disappearance, quite positively lit up, for in front of her was a crumpled form, tall and thin, lying on its side.<p>

The little snake carefully slithered her way forward, and gently stuck her nose out. Her ear-like appendages twitched, waiting tensely for any sign of life.  
>"Wh-" the form whispered, and then began to cough. He almost leapt to his feet on the spot when Plumon set her head down on the upwards-facing side of his torso.<p>

"Hello, Lukas," the snake said; the boy craned his neck, and immediately stumbled backwards, shuffling in an awkward crab-walk to get away. The snake made no move to follow him, only watched him with quiet curiosity.

"What's going on?" Lukas choked out, his eyes going wide. He frantically reached for his cell-phone, and was dumbstruck.  
>The purple-and-black device in his hand was no cell-phone, whatever it was. The screen was off- no buttons he pushed did anything.<p>

"It's... a bit of a story," Plumon replied apologetically as the human boy looked back up, but smiling so gently it was completely disarming, "but I've been waiting a long time for this."  
>She looked up, droplets of water breaking on her forehead.<br>"But let's get out of the rain."

Lukas looked up, and nodded his head once. "Mm. ... and... call me Luke."

A few minutes later, boy carrying the directions-giving snake, they were sitting at the foot of a hill, backs to a pile of rocks, and surrounded by the thickest collection of trees that Lukas had ever seen. Plumon explained the situation in her quiet voice, fielding questions from the incredibly confused boy: where he was, why he was here, what she was. The Digital World. To fight Era. A digimon- his partner.

All this information was coming at Luke so fast, he barely had the time to process it all. It sounded like a bad dream, a cruel prank. He couldn't deny one thing, though- when the shock had worn off, he felt a kinship with the little snake. He felt as though he could trust that everything she said was true, no matter how off the wall it sounded.  
>And oh, it sounded <em>off the wall.<em>

But he sat with his knees up to his chest and listened. He asked questions when things didn't make sense, but otherwise kept his voice down.

"... so I'm alone here," Luke surmised after a moment, breathing out heavily and closing his eyes.

"No you're not," Plumon said, looking up at him. "You've got a partner."

They waited out the rain in near-silence- Plumon fell asleep as she curled up onto Luke's shoulders, and Luke was just too confused to do too much of anything.  
>It lasted quite a while, but Luke didn't keep time. By the time the clouds cleared, the sky they could see through the trees was a warm pink-orange, and as droplets of water fell from the leaves, Luke quietly ventured out - taking care not to disturb the sleeping serpent on his shoulders - into a clearer view.<p>

"Wow," he said at a volume barely above a breath. It was startlingly beautiful, the sky fading from rosy yellow to a faint purple as the sun began to sink, spotted with wispy clouds. It was almost perfectly still, the lingering smell of the earth after rain hanging in the air.

"It's a sight to see," Plumon said, suddenly, lifting her head.

"I've never seen anything like it," Luke concurred, still looking up and around. They stayed standing there for just a moment, falling silent- again, the human boy felt like he was in a dream. None of this could possibly be real.

Plumon's voice interrupted his thoughts. "We'll have to find shelter soon," she said, huddling herself close to her partner's neck and looking up. She had explained already of Agents in the area, and now, with such a comparatively large individual, she could no longer rely on her previous tactics of avoiding them.

The snake directed Luke towards a place she had found on the way here, not far away at all. She had taken refuge in it earlier that day to hide from a passing Ogremon, and had committed its location to memory for this very purpose. It was a sort of little chamber made by the roots of a good-sized tree, dug out like a fox-hole and long since abandoned. A gentle slope led into the little makeshift room, just room enough for the human boy to sit and keep himself hidden, but not so secluded as to shut out all light.

"Not much of a hotel, huh?" Luke said with just a hint of wry humor in his tone, peering outside. He couldn't complain- it seemed safe and dry, and in his current state of mind it was all he could ask for.

* * *

><p>Later on in the night, Lukas was still sitting away, hugging his knees to his chest as he carefully peeked out from time to time. He hadn't slept- how could he?<br>A few hours ago, he had been walking back to where he was staying, and then he was being fawned over by... he looked at Plumon, opposite him, curled up at his feet and deep asleep.

She had mentioned others- did that much mean that there were other humans, or that there would be?  
>He laid his head back, and breathed out through his nose.<p>

Well...  
>It was interesting.<p>

* * *

><p>"So, it worked then?"<p>

Era pushed his glasses up his nose, casting a sideways glance at the digimon who had asked the question. It was sheathed in darkness, and he couldn't get it in his sights, but he hardly needed to. He could almost feel it tremble until he turned his eyes away, up to the screen-like projection in front of him.  
>"You say that as though it <em>wouldn't<em>."

* * *

><p>In the early dawn hours, there was a pointed disturbance in the peace. The crunch of the underbrush and heavy stamping on the ground echoed throughout the little chamber and made it impossible to remain asleep.<br>"Stay quiet, stay low," Plumon warned; Luke needed no second bidding, all but holding his breath. Almost in unison, the small snake and the boy peered out- and beheld a spider the size of a truck. With a glossy abdomen emblazoned with a huge skull and crossbones, furred legs, a coarse red mane, and what almost looked like a horned yellow helmet...  
>Well, it was a rude awakening to what an adult-level digimon looked like.<p>

"Spider. Great," Luke groaned under his breath; he froze still when the glowing green eyes on the helmet temporarily flicked over in their direction. Plumon slithered into her partner's arms, up against his chest.  
>It was all they could do not to breath a sigh of relief when it turned its head away.<p>

Luke wouldn't notice that his D-GEAR did not activate to give a reading. He held his breath, waiting. And then...

A voice. It couldn't have belonged to the spider that passed.  
>"<strong>Winter Solstice<strong>!"

With a sound like cracking and shattering, the spider froze in its tracks- and was literally frosted over. With a brilliant flash of blue-white light, it was gone, and a giant egg was all that was left.

"What was that," Luke said low, looking down at the snake he held to his chest.  
>If she had arms, she would have shrugged.<p>

"Hello?" said the voice that spoke not a moment ago, and a face appeared at the mouth of the little chamber. A pause later, and the voice was lowered: "I am a friend."

Plumon looked up, and her eyes went wide. "You're-" Luke followed her gaze; standing outside their makeshift shelter was a twelve-foot-tall, maybe more, monkey. He was covered in steely blue fur, with red markings on his face, body, and limbs. A tuft of paler slate-blue curved around its neck and chest, and a zig-zagged band of the same colour on both arm. A belt was strapped around his midsection, and where there was no fur - on his underside, face, and feet - was snow-white skin. His eyes, red with pale yellow sclera, seemed almost to see through the pair.

The monkey bowed his head.  
>"I am Rafikmon." A wry smile passed onto his thin lips. "I believe I know who you are."<p>

Luke was frozen with shock.  
>... okay, so so far, a tiny snake and a giant monkey apparently knew about him. He was about to ask, but the monkey turned his head and looked to the sky. "I don't believe it's safe for you, here. You are alone?"<p>

Luke replied awkwardly: "Uhm... uh, yeah. Just... me and this little snake thing. Plumon." At the name, the serpent curled her way onto her partner's shoulders again.

Rafikmon nodded his head. "Then you need to leave this Area as soon as you can. There's a Proxy Area not far from here."

"Wait, what?" Luke blurted.

Simultaneously, Plumon said, "wait, what?" She shook her head, looking at the monkey. "I need to get back to my- team." She jerked her head in the direction she had been heading for days, across trees and hills and gullies.  
>Gently, the big monkey looked between the two.<p>

"I do not assume you can digivolve yet?"

"Well... no," the snake replied, frowning. Rafikmon nodded his head.

"Follow me." And with that, he turned and beckoned.

"We're going to die, aren't we," Luke mumbled; Plumon shook her head.

"No," she said decisively. "Rafikmon is one of Deekamon's. He's on our side."

* * *

><p>"Do I make myself clear?"<p>

"... you don't want us to kill them, then?"

"Absolutely not."

"But Lord Era, they're enemies of your state- criminals. We need to set the ex-"

"If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it. We just need to isolate them."

* * *

><p>The two followed the blue monkey through more forest- and eventually, through a labyrinthine system of caves. They would move, Rafikmon said, to a place not under Era's control until the other humans had arrived; they would have to wait in a place free of Era's control. It was better than to be sitting targets with Deekamon, no matter how strong he was.<br>Luke quietly went along, taking in all he could; he was trying to take this in his stride, but...

He had limits.

Eventually, they came out of the caves and into a craggy, mountainous region; it was high, the air felt thin. Vegetation was scarce and low at best, the rest of the landscape made up of brown and grey rock. It had its own sort of charm, but it was a harsh change for Plumon, who had always been used to the dense vegetation of the Wide Forest.  
>"I apologize," Rafikmon said when she aired her concern, bowing his head, "but the Wild Mountains are the only free area adjacent to your home. It will make it easier to return when the time comes."<p>

It was here, in relative quiet, that Luke and Plumon spent the next week and a half; Rafikmon stayed by their side on nigh-constant vigilance, but they were free to wander wherever they saw fit to. Digimon came and went, passing through and mingling; Luke tried to remain as low-key as he could, but Plumon was at least marginally more sociable, keeping her ears open for word from the Wide Forest. Only a couple times were they attacked, and Rafikmon made handy work of those who tried. One could go over how Luke learned about his D-GEAR unit, was introduced to the omnipresent Terrafruit, talked over this and that with Plumon to try and understand the world around him- but to divulge all of that would be only redundant to the reader.  
>What's important is that, as perhaps could be expected of them, boy and snake were all but inseparable. They ate, they slept, they intermingled sparingly with the local digimon.<p>

"... so you're sure that _I'm_ supposed to be your partner," Luke said, apprehensively, one of those days. They sat on a ledge, Luke leaning back against a rock wall and letting his legs dangle free while Plumon basked on a rock at his side.

"Absolutely," Plumon replied with a nod of her head, slithering over and laying her head down on Luke's lap. He looked at her with a bit of uncertainty, but nodded.

It was only nearing the end of that week that second week anything changed- of course, it wasn't for the better.  
>The pair were jarred from sleep by a snide voice:<p>

"Wakey-wakey, ya load of freeloaders!"

Before they could even get a good look at their assailant, Rafikmon had up and lifted the two and darted like a football player. Three dark shapes, blurry and obscured as Rafikmon began to leap down ledges with practiced expertise (even carrying Luke), were all they could catch sight of. That, and flashes, beams of light shooting into the air...  
>"What's going on?" the boy asked in between soaring leaps; only when they reached the bottom of a canyon did the monkey see fit to respond.<p>

"We're being attacked," the monkey said. "Not Agents... stronger. I don't know what they are, but you can't stay."

"We hear you're givin' shelter to some enemies of the Lord Era, and y'know, we're not down with that!" a voice cried from above; Rafikmon grit his teeth and pointed towards a tunnel.

"Go there. Straight ahead, no forks in the path- you'll arrive at the Great Ocean. It's under Era control- stay hidden, stay safe. Your friends will surely be sent there."  
>Not another word before the primate flung himself back up the wall, scurrying up with any handhold he could find.<p>

"... I think that's our cue to go," Plumon said.

"Wish I understood what I was doing," Luke mumbled, shaking his head. He nodded after a moment.

The boy, Plumon curled tight 'round his shoulders, bolted into the cave. He had no idea what it was that had happened, but... ... honestly, he was getting a bit used to it. From behind him, there was a noise- and the only daylight they could see was quickly dimmed as rocks rumbled down the cliff-side and covered the entrance.

Really, it was only more incentive to pick up the pace.

* * *

><p>What felt like an eternity later, the pair spilled out onto the beach- through a carpet of tropical greenery and, at the run Luke was at, didn't stop until he dug his heels into soft white sand. It was dusk, and the multiple moons were low on the horizon yet. The salty spray washed over them. After their time in the dry mountains, it was almost shocking.<p>

Lukas breathed out a heavy sigh, partly of exasperation and partly of relief. Plumon slithered off his shoulders and to the ground, in the sand. The boy looked at his little partner, and said, "Do you know why Rafikmon said your friends would be sent here?"

Plumon paused. She was thinking for a moment, before she suddenly turned her head to the sky. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth hung open.  
>Lukas followed her gaze just in time to see it.<p>

Out of the sky, leaving a brilliant trail behind it that began to fade even before their eyes, a shining white orb was shooting straight for them- or, more specifically, for Luke.  
>Even more specifically, the electronic device, that had once been his cell phone, that he had clipped to his belt.<p>

It began to glow and rattle, and then... from the screen, emitted a beam of light that shot for Plumon.  
>The little snake gave a shout of surprise as it collided with her, and dispersed its light into her body. As it did, she began to change.<p>

"Plumon, kickstart digivolve to..." Her body grew by a large margin. Her ear-like appendages were gone, replaced with brilliantly-coloured feathers attached to the now far-larger gem fixed on her forehead. A similar plume, these feathers all-black, sprang from the end of her tail, and hard scales plated her underside. "**Sampamon**!"

Luke stared, and blinked a couple times.  
>A momentary pause.<br>"Holy crap, are you okay?" he blurted, falling to his knees to look at the now much-larger snake. Her big yellow eyes and her gentle expression were the same as they had been before.

"Never been better," she replied, and touched her forehead to Luke's.

"Th- the heck was that?" Luke said, more than a little shaken. He looked at the device the light had hit, taking it into his hand; the screen had lit up, shining bright. It began to dim over time, but on its screen was flashing a little symbol. "I- what?"

"It means they've arrived," Sampamon said simply, bowing her head.  
>It took Luke a moment to realize what she meant.<p>

* * *

><p>As, an Area away, the other children began adjusting to their surroundings, Luke was walking down the beach - with this partner still choosing to stay on his shoulders, curling around him comfortably -, ducking into the trees whenever an unfamiliar Digimon made itself known.<br>Mere hours after Sampamon grew to her current form, the two happened upon a small village of Digimon in the near distance; there was visible fire-light, and the sound of laughter. That enough told them it wasn't an Era settlement, at the least. They were tired, as it had been quite a day indeed... it was worth a shot. It seemed that the moment they came any closer, directly in their faces was a little pink digimon, with dragonfly-like wings and a spear tight in his hands.

"Halt!" the little pink puffball said sharply, nearly poking the boy in the chest. He spoke fast, not allowing the two to get a word in. "I am Piximon, chieftain of this village, and so help me Yggdrasil, if you give me one reason to I will not hesitate to attack."

Luke didn't want trouble; he responded in a low, humble tone. "We just want to know if we can stay here for a night," he said, lowering his eyes. Big shiny coal-black eyes or not, Piximon's gaze was intense- and the puffball said nothing, but his eyes flicked to the snake.  
>Sampamon suddenly shifted her body, curling her tail around Luke's shoulders; gently, she unclipped his D-GEAR unit from his belt with her mouth, holding it up to Piximon.<p>

Piximon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Is that what I believe it is?"

Sampamon, the device still in her mouth, nodded. Luke held out his hand, and she placed the digivice in it before slithering back onto his shoulders; he held it out for the strange digimon's inspection. Piximon snapped it up, turning it over with his non-weapon-wielding hand.  
>Luke was about to ask what he was doing when he tugged on a small tab, and out of the D-GEAR slid a little card-like object, a shining white symbol on it.<p>

"Your Virtue," Sampamon said low, seeming a bit surprised, herself. "That... light, must have activated it," she reasoned.

"Virtue?"  
>He didn't get an answer immediately. Piximon, seeming satisfied - begrudgingly - nodded as he slipped it back in, and held the device back out, pushing it into Lukas' hands. They were lead nearer to the collection of thatched huts, but before they entered the circle of light given off by what seemed to be a large fire in the "town square" of sorts, Piximon held out his spear.<br>"Wait here."

And wait they did; Luke stood almost stark-still as he watched the retreating little digimon. "I guess we can call ourselves lucky," he said quietly, "to... well, have survived, for one. But to have run into non-hostiles." Sampamon nodded.

"I can't say we should think it too unusual, though," she mused. "Deekamon told us that there will be holdouts and rebels until the day that Era is overthrown." She looked up, watching as the moons slowly rose overhead. "He said we're born with a sense of what's right and wrong, and how things are supposed to be."

Lukas paused, then nodded and smiled just faintly. "Mm."  
>They fell quiet, waiting for Piximon's return; it was a minute later.<p>

"I sent many of my villagers to their huts," he explained, indicating the village behind him. "So as not to give them too much shock."

* * *

><p>It was nice, really, to be sitting <em>and<em> alongside a fire. Indeed, Piximon had sent away most of the digimon; only a brown rabbit with pink markings, Lopmon, sat alongside, quiet and serene.  
>"Why are you traveling alone?" Lopmon inquired, adjusting his position on the log upon which he sat. "I was under the impression that the Virtue Warriors came as a group of seven."<p>

Luke paused, and drew his knees up to his chest. "I'm not entirely sure," he admitted. "I just... kind of arrived here, and kept getting told I'd have to wait for the... uhm, others."

"There's a reason, I'm sure," Piximon said, with a peculiar air. It left a second half of the sentence unsaid, but clear: _and I'm sure it's not good_. "But that's neither my place nor my expertise. We will keep an eye out for your allies should they come our way."

Luke paused, and looked quizzically at Sampamon; her expression said, _I'm as clueless as you_.

For perhaps an hour, the pair rested themselves and spoke with the two friendly-enough digimon; they explained what they had been doing, while Lopmon explained that his was a village of, indeed, holdouts, rebels, refugees, and the like. They exchanged pleasant discussion, and even Piximon seemed to be a little less prickly as time wore on.  
>But as could be expected... the time, and the rush of the preceding day, began to take a toll on the boy and his scaly partner. Piximon led them to an empty hut and allowed them to stay there. They took the offer graciously.<p>

* * *

><p>"Now?"<p>

"Not yet."

* * *

><p>In the middle of the night, there was a pointed disturbance in the sleep of the entire village.<br>Now, call it crazy, but it might just have been the tremendous sea-serpent that had managed to bring itself up onto the nearby sand, and was spewing its ice and freezing water every which way- and the fact that their human guest and his partner had gone to fight it, having been awakened by the strangest gut feeling immediately prior to its arrival.

For the first time, his D-GEAR spoke to him.

_Seadramon. Adult-level Aquatic digimon. Not the most intelligent of digimon, it cannot speak and acts almost entirely on instinct. It attacks by freezing the water it can spray at enemies with its Ice Blast technique._

"**Shadow Shock**! **Shadow Shock**! **Shadow Shock**!" Over and over again, Sampamon fired out black bursts of energy from the gem on her forehead, but they either dispersed before they reached her enemy or simply failed to harm it when they did.

"Crap," the boy mumbled, having had to have run almost a quarter of the way around their enemy to stay unharmed. He steadied himself and cupped his hands over his mouth to yell at the snake. "Are you okay!"  
>Sampamon nodded her head, but she had a pained expression on her face.<p>

Luke was less than convinced, but more pressing matters were at hand. Seadramon whipped his tail around - indeed, followed by his entire body - and was poised to crush the boy under it.  
>"Ah, crap."<p>

And then there was a bright light that cut through the night like a knife. Both Luke's D-GEAR and his parter began to glow bright white.

_**Kickstart digivolution, begin.**_

"Sampamon, kickstart digivolve to..." For the second time, Sampamon's body grew exponentially- she was almost on-par with the tremendous sea monster by the time she stopped growing. Spikes burst out of her back, razor-sharp, while the ear-like appendages returned, growing out alongside a shaggy mane of grey fur. The feather-like tip of her tail burst into brilliantly-coloured fur, while a golden ring appeared, floating around the near-end of her tail.  
>"<strong>Serpemon<strong>!"

Seadramon had turned his attention right quick. Yellow eyes narrowed, Serpemon faced the great beast, and her lip drew back.  
>"Not a mistake I'll recommend you make again."<br>And then she opened her mouth wide, revealing knife-sharp teeth.

"**Spectral Blast**!"  
>Even in the moonlight, Luke looked around- for a couple of seconds, all of the colour in the area around him was gone, reduced to shades of grey as a tremendous black blast of energy fired out of his partner's mouth and smashed into Seadramon. When it did so, the colour returned to the area.<p>

The enemy snarled, put down his helmeted head, and threw himself towards Serpemon.

She met him in the headbutt, wrapping her body around his and squeezing like a constrictor. Seadramon retaliated by firing a chilling blast of ice into Serpemon's face, and she gave a cry, loosened enough for Seadramon to wriggle out of her coils and throw her to the ground. He reared back and prepared to attack again, before Serpemon suddenly thrashed her body, waving her tail slowly.  
>"<strong>Hypno Tail<strong>!" Her tail began to gain an ethereal glow, and Seadramon seemed more than a little mesmerized by it.

In a trance, he barely noticed the land-based snake suddenly snapping her head up, striking like a cobra, and clamped her jaws around Seadramon's neck. It was their foe's turn to glow- and this time, it was his entire body, as in a moment his data shot into the air like a beacon in the night, leaving only an egg behind.

"I-"

Serpemon bowed her head.

Luke was dumbstruck, until he heard a clapping; Piximon was floating not far away, his spear laying on the ground. The pink little digimon flew over and picked the egg up, and spoke. "You really are a Virtue Warrior, aren't you two," he mused, and turned.  
>A flash of light later, and Serpemon was on Luke's shoulders again. The boy bowed his head, and said only:<p>

"Thank you for your hospitality."

Piximon could only watch as the human turned and began to walk away.

* * *

><p>It was still dark, not even close to daylight, when... whatever it was, happened.<br>"Luke!" Sampamon cried out, but by that point, it was entirely too late. He felt something that felt like a metal baseball bat smashing into the base of his spine. The boy - and the snake's - vision went white, searingly bright, but he felt as though his eyes were being forced open by an invisible force. He couldn't see anything but the light, almost burning his retinas. There was a horrible sound, a screeching and a cracking, the sound of otherworldly cries of pain, and one very worldly cry.  
>Though he couldn't see anything, he could hear Sampamon screaming in pain entirely too close, and the sound made his stomach begin to turn.<p>

To Luke, it felt like something was invading his mind on a primal level- and it felt incomprehensibly wrong. And that was _before_ it felt like his every limb was being ripped out of its socket, that there was a force threatening to rip his head off of his spine. A scream ripped out of his own throat, and it felt like it wasn't of his own will- he couldn't stop the sound from escaping him. He lost all sense of time- whether it had been going on for thirty seconds or thirty minutes was completely lost on him.  
>There was a rush of a strange force beyond the screaming, and the sound of howling wind suddenly reached his ears, as the screams either tapered off or had simply become background noise. It was bitterly cold- a product of the wind, perhaps?<p>

Three- no, four - blurred black figures suddenly faded into view, saying words that Luke could not make out over the wind and how hazy his mind had become.

One of the black figures stepped closer, and it felt like there was something choking Luke.  
>"Excellent."<br>Those one word was all he heard, before everything went black like a TV turning off.

* * *

><p>When he finally came to, he felt like his entire body was numb- in fact, he realized he could not move. There was an unfamiliar... presence? in his mind, like something was sleeping there in the corner. Everything was black- and only after a moment did he realize it was because his eyes were closed, but he could not open them.<p>

Suddenly, his eyes were forced open. He was in sitting a dark room, barely lit, with stone walls and stone floor- almost like a prison cell.  
>He had no control over where his eyes went. He tried to open his mouth, and found that he couldn't. He didn't seem to have a form of his own at all, simply exiting at some point in space. When his eyes were forced to look down at his body- but it distinctly didn't feel like his. It felt like he was looking through a window at someone else's body- a tall one, with purple skin and a mask over most of his face.<p>

He didn't seem to have a form of his own at all, simply exiting at some point in space, living in another body.

There was a small black lump on the ground next to him. He was forced to his feet by some unknown force, and then his mouth opened. The strange presence he had felt in his mind stirred to life, and... took over.  
>"Reimon," he said, but it wasn't him- he didn't say it at all. It wasn't his voice, not his will. The black digimon looked up, and somewhere behind its big yellow eyes, he felt the faintest hint.<br>_Sampamon_.

He felt like a puppet, his mind intact but his every movement down to his breath and his eye movements the work of someone else.

He felt it every time the body's hands closed around a digimon, every time energy flooded into the body.  
>He felt it when he saw his supposed-to-be teammates- when he was forced by that invisible presence to almost kill their digimon. When he saw and conferred with Era, the man who had done this.<br>And he couldn't do anything about it.

He felt it when, as time went on, he saw more and more of the light in the black digimon's eyes as she changed form. He felt the thing in his mind become more and more _one_ with him. He felt it go mad; he felt it begin to lose its cool, burning at his brain, at his soul, when she began to question it.  
>And he couldn't do anything about it except feel it seep into his soul. The more it did, the less stable it became.<p>

And so he lost hope; he began to feel that there was nothing he could do. He was not in control- he went dormant, not wanting to feel another digimon die by his hand.  
>He felt every blow of the attack when the body faced down, against the boy's battered, useless will. The searing pain felt just as though it would have to a human, though the strengthened body kept him alive.<p>

The other mind broke, he felt, when he saw Sanmon's body ripped from her.  
>He felt that searing, burning, rip-his-body-apart feeling again when Era took this body away from him. The white light.<p>

And then he hit the ground, his entire human body feeling as though it were gaining feeling after too long on a numbing agent. He heard voices, distant yet close, and they were too hazy to make out.  
>"<em>SAMPAMON<em>!" ripped from his throat.  
>He stumbled forth, forcing himself forward in the clumsiest way, to grab the egg.<p>

He heard a low whistle, and turned his head.

"... I..."

* * *

><p>The group did not move all that day; they brought Luke back to the demolished site of the battle, set up camp again in the wreckage and the fallen trees. They sat around a fire, talking with eachother; Luke stayed silent.<br>It was nightfall before he found his voice. He had stared at the ground the entire time, and continued to do just as such.

Still holding the black egg tight to his chest, Luke hung his head. He had just re-told this entire story, in abridged format, to these new children and their partner digimon- the ones he was supposed to have teamed up with. He couldn't bear to look them in the eye.

It was that boy - Simon - who spoke first, yet again.

"Welcome to the team, buddy."


	24. Chapter 24: Breathe In

It was later that night. The group had divided themselves around the spacious once-battlefield in the interest of keeping watch all around it, so they would have fewer blind spots if attacks came in the night. In the distance, the sounds of rampaging digimon began to die down until there was nothing to be heard, but were taking no chances. Loromon had, once again, taken off, explaining that he needed to help his friends, and the team could surely manage themselves.

The sun's light was soon, but had yet, to rise over the trees, and four of the number - two humans, two digimon - sat awake near the north end of the clearing.

"I donno, man," Faris said, leaning forward onto his knees and poking at what was left of a small fire with a stick. "I don't mean to be that guy, but y'really sure we can, y'know... trust this guy?"

Julian cast a look over at his brother, and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think we're going to have a choice in it. Deekamon and Wisemon both said we'd need all seven of us." He cast a look at his D-GEAR- ever since arriving in this Area, trying to contact Deekamon had been met only with dead static.  
>As far as he was concerned, it meant only bad things.<p>

"We must wait until Sampamon hatches," Iguamon said calmly. "She was a bit of a strange one, yes, but we can tell."

"_Tell_?" Faris said back, blinking.

Delfinimon nodded her head. "If she's our teammate and friend. If there's something wrong, we can tell, yeom."  
>Julian paused, and looked at the dolphin for a moment with a harsh, scrutinizing gaze- it made her uncomfortable. "H-hey! What's the big idea, yeom?"<p>

Julian turned away, something on his mind. It took a moment for him to say it:  
>"So did you know it was her, when she was that thing?"<p>

There was an uncomfortable silence.  
>"We could feel her presense somewhere," Iguamon admitted, but shook his head. "But we didn't imagine what was going on."<p>

"Hm."  
>Julian cast a look across the clearing to the tree Luke was sleeping in, near the eastern edge. "At any rate, we're going to have to, so we may as well not complain of it. If what he explained is true," he just barely emphasized the 'if', "then we have an ex-insider for Era, at the least."<p>

"Never thought _you'd_ be the optimist, Jules."

The older boy looked up, and shook his head. "It's not optimism, it's realism. He'll know more about what Era is doing than any of us. And even if things go wrong," he said with a sigh, "then it's six against one."

"That's kinda grim, yeom," Delfinimon mumbled, shaking her head. "I don't want to fight Sampamon if I can help it."

"If the fates are with us," Iguamon said, closing his eyes, "then we won't need to." The dinosaur cast a look outwards, and drew his lips back in a sort of grimace. There was the sound of strife in the distance. "If the fates _are_ with us, we'll have worse things to consider fighting."

It fell silent from there on out. Egakumon was snoring a short distance away, and there was the occasional rustle of a digimon passing through, but the brothers and their digimon fell back asleep before entirely too long had passed.

* * *

><p>Given time, the dawn broke.<p>

A good while after _that_, the team began to stir.

"Good morning, Digital World," Emily said in her usual (bubbly) way from halfway across the clearing, stretching out.  
>"You seem happy," Egakumon said to his partner as he sat up; all around their little camp, the others were either waking up or milling around, Simon being the last to wake up.<br>Simon couldn't explain it, but there as just an air about the day that made it feel like a good one. Possibly that they finally had their entire team together, Forbidramon was out of the way, and he had just had the first truly restful sleep he had taken in a while. It was a bright day,

"I'm freakin' fantastic," he said, grinning lopsidedly.

"Glad someone is," Andrea said as she walked over, popping her neck while Rajamon shook his head to rouse himself. "I kept having dreams about that wacko." By 'that wacko', she meant Era- somehow, having a human face on him only made him worse. It sent a million questions rocketing through her - and the others' - minds.  
>And the only one with any semblance to answers clammed up as soon as he had told his story.<p>

Luke stayed sitting in his tree, holding Sampamon's egg close to his body as though his body heat would hatch it faster. He looked over as he noticed that the rest of the group was looking at him, and he sheepishly hopped down out of the tree and walked over slowly.

"Kinda emo, inne?" Egakumon said, putting his arms akimbo.

"He has good enough reason," Lammon pointed out, and Egakumon begrudgingly nodded his head. The sheep looked around as the teammates began to convene around them, Luke stepping over last, and Lammon stepped back alongside her partner so as not to feel at the center of attention.

What Toby said next was devastating in its simplicity:  
>"So what do we do now?"<br>It was a good question. Everything they had been trying to do over the past weeks - find their missing team member- had taken such precedence in the minds of child and digimon alike that what they would do when they _actually found him_ hadn't really been an issue of consideration.

Their question was answered fairly readily from a voice in the tree Luke had just been sitting in.  
>"I think I have an idea," said a familiar (to most) tone of voice. Sitting on a bough as though he had been there the entire time, swinging his legs like a carefree schoolchild...<p>

"Deekamon!" cried a chorus of a dozen voices.

Deekamon's yellow eyes squinted up into a clear expression of mirth, and he began to laugh (or, really, giggle), and he spread his arms wide... and then swung himself backwards over the branch he sat on, until his back was so bent as to have his head right-side up again, looking around at the kids.  
>It really looked painful- and it would have been, indeed, were Deekamon not just a floating head and hands with a fabric shell.<p>

"What a loon," Rajamon and Andrea said in nigh-tandem, both girl and tiger putting a hand (or, in the latter's case, a paw) to their face in exasperation. Deekamon either didn't notice or didn't care. Their cat-hoodied friend whipped himself around to sit upright again, and continued giggling.

"You're finally together again," he giggled, hopping out of the tree.

"Good to see you're not a pile of scrap fabric, yeom," Delfinimon remarked, beaming.

"We've been trying to get in contact with you for a week!" Egakumon said, flailing his arms wildly and nearly smacking Delfinimon on the nose with his paintbrush. She batted it away with a fin, sticking her tongue out at the rabbit.

"We've got more than a couple questions," Julian added, putting his hands into his pockets.

Deekamon peered around, his eyes landing on the boy holding the digitama in his arms, and lurched forward with frightening speed. He seemed deaf to everything around him, his round, faintly-glowing yellow eyes boring into Luke's green.  
>And then Luke's hair, as the boy lowered his head after a moment or two, and even did a little half-bow.<p>

"I'm honored," he mumbled, carefully looking back up at the cat-hoodied creature. "Sampamon told me a lot about you."

Deekamon snorted and grabbed the boy by the back of his goat, hoisting him upright. "Ahh, none of that stuffy... stuff!" He giggled, Luke's face the absolute picture of vaguely-disturbed confusion. There was a brief pause; the other six kids looked at eachother, exchanged looks with their digimon, and then focused on Deekamon once more.  
>"I <em>think<em> this belongs to you," the odd digimon said, and with a flick of his wrist, there was a familiar-looking plastic device clutched between his claws. It was a D-GEAR unit, purple with black accents and trim, its screen dim and dull.

"How did you get that?" Kamomon blurted in a squawk, flapping his wings. "We saw Forbidramon crush it and absorb the Virtue, and-"

"I know," Deekamon cut the seagull off, but didn't take his gaze off the new child, who looked incredibly uncomfortable. For a minute, it would be easy to think he was trying not to think of Forbidramon, but then:

"Does he always do this?" Luke said suddenly, a bit uncertainly, giving a sideways glance at Simon.  
>Simon grinned.<p>

It was the first thing he had said that hadn't sounded like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. It was a little thing, but even with the uncomfortable tone, there was a hint of being slightly more at-ease.  
>"Yeah, it's kind of his thing."<p>

"Well, c'mon, take it," Deekamon prodded, shoving the D-GEAR at Luke. He took a step back, more than a bit confused.

"Where did you get it?" Iguamon cut in, blinking slowly and deliberately. "A real answer would be best."

Deekamon gave Iguamon a quick look. It was a look he, and every other digimon there, knew well:  
><em>I'll explain it soon, but hold your Unimon, will you?<em>  
>Deekamon was... being Deekamon. He held out the D-GEAR again to the boy, and this time reached far enough that it tapped on the egg he held.<p>

Both egg and device reacted; the egg suddenly began to crack, the wide splinters in the shell spreading out from the point of contact. In turn, the D-GEAR's screen began to glow faintly.  
>Luke was frozen to the spot, his feet rooted to the ground, as a high-pitched squeaking drifted out of the egg he held. In a matter of seconds, the top half of the egg was gently nudged away by the being inside of it. A quite-small grey blob was looking up at Luke with coal-black eyes, totally featureless outside of those eyes, a tiny, thin mouth and the red gemstone set on its forehead.<br>She smiled.  
>"Hi."<p>

"Welcome back, Gemon," Deekamon said as the eggshell fell to the ground. The little form of Sampamon, who had busied herself with cuddling right up against Luke's shirt, was given quite a jump at the voice. Holding her with one arm, Luke reached out as Deekamon pressed the digivice into his hand. He clutched the device, looking at it with a sort of torn expression on his face.  
>What, he could only wonder, had become of the Virtue? Where had he even gotten this? How had he known?<br>A dozen more questions raced through his mind, but he could only say two words.

"Thank you."

"At the risk of sounding like a broken record," Toby said quietly, putting one finger up, "could you please explain what's going on, Deekamon? ... Uhm... sir?"

"You guys are so impatient," Deekamon mumbled with faux indignation in his voice, but he laughed. "A'rright, sit down."  
>It had been a while since they had much explained to them. They were almost ready to welcome it at this point, if just to understand. They did as instructed, sitting around the purple-hoodied digimon.<p>

"I have, contacts," Deekamon said in his usual completely non-committal way, waving one hand at the air. He paused, to think. "When and if something happens to you, or when the tides turn, I'll know before long. News travels fast, both between the enemy and our friends." He grazed over them all with his yellow eyes, once again taking a moment of silence.  
>"When I heard that a Digimon had absorbed a Virtue, I was... somewhat concerned." Understatement. "Your D-GEAR units have not been working to communicate with me since, have they?"<br>A group nod of affirmation.  
>"It does not connect to me, you understand. It connects to my home. I rarely leave it, for- ah, personal reasons," and he put his hands over where his heart would have been. "Sentimentality, you know me. But if I'm not there - say, trying to make my way through the Digital World to come find you..."<p>

"What took you so long?" Simon butted in, and then quickly mumbled, "sorry." He still leaned forward, plainly curious.

"Not a problem," Deekamon chuckled, nodding. "I very well couldn't follow your tracks. The Great Ocean is under the utmost surveillance- the Wide Forest, too. I had to take a much more, ah, roundabout route." He traced a path in the air with one claw as though to demonstrate. "I won't bore you with my path, but I couldn't much show myself. Had to be careful, you know." They got the impression that he was smiling behind the mask part of his hoodie as he tapped his head and winked. "Big bad Era isn't a big fan of little old Deekamon, you see."

He turned on Lukas, and bowed his head. "I am glad you're okay. I was afraid that perhaps Forbidramon had completely overtaken you."  
>It was subtle, but the boy it was directed at, and his little partner, caught it: Deekamon wasn't saying whether or not he knew the extent of the boy and snake's <em>relationship<em> with Forbidramon and Reimon. He could have meant physically overcome in battle, or... less literally.  
>It was impossible to tell.<p>

"So I..." Deekamon said and then paused. "Asked a friend for a favor," he said slowly, deliberately. His yellow eyes flashed for a split second, mischievous and cryptic.  
>"Seventh child, your Virtue should be restored. ... replaced, rather..."<br>Just the tone in his voice implied, clear as day, that he'd rather not talk of it further- not now.

Egakumon was next to speak up. "So what the heck happened to the one that Forbidramon absorbed?"

"That," Deekamon said, and sighed, "I'm not sure. But it's still active, I know that much." He paused for dramatic effect. "If he took it from Forbidramon, then Era has a piece of Yggdrasil. It's concentrated, limited, but it's been activated. He can use it. This much is dangerous. I _cannot_ overstate that."

"Crap," Andrea hissed, breathing out through her nose. She looked at the strange digimon, and said:  
>"I'm gonna guess he's going to use it like Forbidramon used it. To force digivolution."<p>

Emily frowned deeply, furrowing her brow. "And... if a digimon gets power from him, it'll be loyal to him," she said quietly, putting two and two together.

"But," Deekamon said before any more seeds of doubt could be planted, holding up his hands. There was a twinkle of mirth in his eyes. "You are dangerous, too. You are finally a full force. The true Virtue Warriors. The chosen saviors of our world, if you will."  
>He looked around himself, and breathed out.<p>

"If what you think he is doing is true," he said with deliberate pacing, "then you'll have to be on your guards. You are strong, but you've never been a complete team until now. And even if you had, you'd still have room to grow."  
>Pause. He looked at the digimon, specifically.<br>"I cannot tell you how to reach your most powerful forms- I can't tell you how to reach Mega. That is one of the very few things I tell you with utmost honesty that I do not know about." ... wait, did that mean he wasn't telling the truth about not knowing about other things? "But I can help you in other ways."

"Oh no," Faris groaned, putting his hands behind his head. "I sense a training session."

Delfinimon gave her partner a dirty look, sticking her pink little tongue out. "You just _had_ to say it."

Deekamon giggled. "_Biin_-go."

"What's the plan, then?" Julian said, threading his fingers together in front of his mouth, resting his elbows on his knees. Some part of him doubted whether their eccentric mentor figure had much of a plan at all, really... All around, there was a sort of quiet assent with the oldest of their number's unspoken thought.

Again, either Deekamon didn't hear this comment, or chose to ignore it. "I want to see what you've learned thus far," he said. After a moment, he added: "just child form, mind you. No need in wasting energy or drawing attention to ourselves, and I think what I need to know will be proven fine just like this."  
>Gemon huddled down against Luke's body, quite aware of her little squishy body and almost-nil power Deekamon noticed the little digimon's motion, and laughed. "Of course, those among us who aren't quite up to child level are exempt."<br>Pause. "Just for now, of course. You just watch. Might be good to see. Or, at the least, pretty funny."  
>Comforting!<p>

Rajamon narrowed his eyes, thinking. "You... want us to attack you?" he said slowly, picking his words carefully.

"Of course!" Deekamon said back entirely too cheerfully, nodding his head.

"Aren't you at least the slightest bit concerned about fighting six adult-levels at once?" Toby asked, tilting his head a little bit. The kids could have sworn that Deekamon smirked as he turned and beckoned for the digimon to follow him away a bit, further back into the clearing their fight with Forbidramon had created- just far away enough so as not to harm the bystanders.

Egakumon, as he followed Deekamon, looked over his shoulder as Simon; the boy shrugged, and the rabbit shrugged back.  
>"Around me, please," the cat-hoodie monster said, twirling one finger per hand in a circle. At his command, the six child-level digimon took places around him. Little Gemon watched from her vantage point in Luke's arms, curious as to what was going to happen.<br>She couldn't say she was eager to fight Deekamon, though.

"Ready?" their mentor figure said; when the six digimon around him nodded, he nodded as well. "Then go." He said that, and then slung himself forward, slouched over impressively. His arms hung limp.  
>The six partners weren't quite sure what to do, until (of course) Egakumon was the first to act.<p>

"**Pummel Claw**!" the rabbit yelped, his hand encircled by swirling data as he leapt forward. Almost in tandem, likely not wanting to be upstaged, Rajamon surged forward as well.

"**Fire Dash**!" he yelled, and the long fur around his limbs and on his head burst into crackling fire.  
>Deekamon didn't move; this inspired the other four to leap forward with attacks of their own.<p>

"**Seagull Strike**!"

"**DolFin**!"

"**Lamb Kick**!"

"**Dino Claw**!"

They barely got close enough to Deekamon to hit him that suddenly he whipped his body into the air, almost backflipping; his long arms and fabric legs fluttered in the air as he floated for just a second or two, watching. Below him, the digimon weren't having the greatest time; that is to say, they had all collided into eachother, their attacks meeting with almost explosive result.

"Is it always your tactic to just all attack at once and hope something works?" Deekamon said as he gently floated back down to the ground, landing on his toes. His tone was cheery as ever, but there was a faint scolding note somewhere...

"Well, it usually _works_," Rajamon retorted, pushing himself off the ground. "I mean, we got Forbidramon good enough."

"And we normally don't have to fight with all of us in the battle at once," Lammon said, much gentler and quieter than her feline teammate. "It's usually just one or two of us working together. When we're all together, we..."

"Usually, half of us have been been creamed within a few minutes, yeom," Delfinimon completed, propping her head up with one fin. "Or we've just got a big honking target."

Deekamon paused and considered. "You're strong. You work well as a team, pulling together to attack in unison- but your timing is horrible. Doing that creates a massive window for your enemy to counter or retaliate or even," and he seemed to smirk, "just avoid it."  
>The partner digimon groaned, begrudgingly accepting what they were being told.<p>

"C'mon, now," Deekamon chirruped. "Try what you just did, but this time try not to clobber eachother. _I'm_ the target, yeah?"

Pause, and yellow eyes turned on the spectators (the humans and Gemon).  
>"And you're not exempt, kiddos. <em>You<em> have to be the eyes on your partner's backs of their heads, watching what they can't. Moral support and second pair of eyes!"

* * *

><p><em>C'mon, now<em> quickly became the words that no digimon wanted to hear; every time Deekamon said it, it meant they would be put through another drill, always the same- the same as last time, the same but this time do it while moving, the same but this time with your eyes closed... they wouldn't be surprised if Deekamon started asking them to try and attack him while standing on their heads and singing campfire songs. Each time a teammate accidentally landed a hit on one another instead of Deekamon (and note that none had managed to hit the latter), he would stop the drill immediately and make them do it again... and again... and again... And even when they got it, he'd make them do it again another time or two. Just for good measure, he said.  
>Their human partners yelled encouragement and advice from the sidelines until their throats grew hoarse; Deekamon would sometimes hop behind one of them in order to give them a jolt or a surprise, or to test their partners.<p>

Deekamon, meanwhile, was a little purple pinball, turning and whirling around, jumping out of harm's way with effortless ease, never even having to throw a punch as he put his charges through the motions.

For _three hours_.

They never got any closer to landing hits on Deekamon, but eventually, almost as the sun was overhead, he suddenly stilled.  
>"And that's enough," he concluded. All six digimon he had been testing breathed heavy, taking great gulping mouthfuls of air, trying to catch their breath. They had been given little reprieve, and their limbs were beginning to ache.<p>

"But we didn't even come close to-" Rajamon almost snapped, growling just a bit.

"You seem to think I expected you to?" Deekamon said with the most amused tone in his voice.

Rajamon stared, and couldn't hold back from saying it:  
>"You're such a loon."<p>

Deekamon bowed his head and giggled; he didn't argue.

Over with the children: "I take it he doesn't do straightforward that well?" Luke mumbled; Julian, from beside him, let out a bit of a bitter laugh.

"Yeah, no."

"He does straightforward," Faris explained, "like a _fish_ does _marathon running._ It's totally contradictory to, like, just about everything he stands for." As he said that, Deekamon began to walk back towards them. The digimon weren't saying anything, but they couldn't suppress the feeling that Deekamon was just being odd, and it showed on their faces as they followed him back to their partners.

Delfinimon instantly flopped onto her back onto Faris' lap, flailing her fins in the air above her. "I need a fin massaaaage, yeom," she whined, and Faris rolled his eyes and pushed her hands back onto her belly.  
>Rajamon remained silent, but laid his head on Andrea's lap and breathed out, his breath warm like the air above a fire. Lammon lay at Toby's feet, while both Egakumon and Kamomon nearly stumbled as they moved to their partners and sat down, almost collapsing as they did.<p>

"Count yourself among the lucky that you didn't go through that," Iguamon said with a look at Gemon, who gave a little 'mm' and nodded her body. The dinosaur heaved a slightly rattly breath, sitting on a fallen log alongside Julian.

"She'll have to eventually," Deekamon said, chuckling. "But... not now." He sat down on the ground, folding his legs and putting his hands on his knees. "I know that you likely don't see the point of that," Deekamon said, and was met with nods and grunts of assent. He bowed his head. "And for that, I apologize. I wanted to check up on you, you understand! See how you've grown."  
>He looked up.<br>"And you have. Not just over the past few hours, but since the few weeks ago when you fought against Grizzlymon, all in child form for the first time. Why, you almost actually hit me once or twice!" He smiled behind his mask-like hoodie. "Understand I have tested you in Child form, even though you might have actually hit me once or twice in Perfect, even Adult. I wouldn't be bothered by that."

Deekamon paused, his yellow eyes flicking to each member of the team in turn.

"But it's going to take more than power. If you build good battle habits in lower forms, you don't rely on it as much." He breathed out heavily, changing subjects.  
>"I can't guarantee any of you that I can stay in much contact with you after this. Your D-GEAR units probably won't suffice anymore."<p>

"What?" Emily said, sitting up straight. "But... why?"

"Era isn't horribly fond of me," Deekamon said wryly, echoing his words from before, smirking behind his hood. "Even I can't hold my ground against as many digimon as he could send after me- now that he has the Virtue, I don't believe it will be safe for me to stay at my hut any longer. It's probably gone by now, destroyed..."  
>A pang of sad nostalgia rippled through the digimon. The hut had been their home for most of their lives- they didn't want to imagine it being destroyed by Agents. Deekamon seemed to share the sentiment.<p>

"You could fight back," Gemon piped up. "You are- well. You."

"I am only one digimon," Deekamon conceded. "Mind, I'm not going to keel over, step down from my, ah, position. I just can't risk staying in one place any more. Even if Era can't force Digimon up to my level," he said, looking to the sky, "he can force them to Perfect." He motioned to himself. "And even a Mega can't hold his ground against a thousand Perfects alone."  
>His position? Mega? Deekamon was saying things that seemed strange to even the partner digimon, but in true fashion, he didn't wait to let them ask.<p>

"If you keep moving, you will be safe. Keep a low profile as far as you can. Fight only when provoked, and - it pains me to say this, as many agents and the like have been friends in the past - do not let your attackers get away from you if you can possibly help it." It was a bit of a grim statement, and more than one of the gathered lowered their eyes. "That said, I _can_ give you a bit of more concrete guidance from here."

Deekamon pointed off into the distance, towards the end of the jungle they had not yet been through.  
>"A day and a half's walk from here, give or take, is a Proxy Area. It will lead you to an area under Era control, and for that I am sorry; but I have a close friend there who can assist you, and get you through it quickly." He looked around. "You'll know where to go once you get there, I guarantee you this."<p>

He was saying so much so fast; it was almost hard to process.

There was a deep rumbling not far away at all; rustling, stomping, crushing, roaring. Deekamon's eyes narrowed.  
>Something had been after him- or the kids. Well, whatever it was...<br>"Be on-guard," he said cautiously, turning to the kids and their partners. "I... can't stay here and let danger befall you. I wish you good luck. I will see you again soon. Remember, if anything happens to you, I will know before too much time has passed."

Without another word, Deekamon leapt off into the trees again. Within a few moments, they heard only two words in Deekamon's voice...

"**Deja Vu**!"

... followed by a roar and the sound of whatever it was all but stampeding away.

"I think," Toby mumbled, sinking his face into his hood, "that's our cue to go."


	25. Chapter 25: Down the Rabbit Hole

_Author's note: Y'ello! Sorry about the delay- I had to focus on school stuff, but if anyone follows the site I suppose they know that I was on hiatus. Sorry for not announcing it here, BUT. We're back on-schedule for now~_

* * *

><p>Deekamon's estimate was just about spot-on- a day and a half, nearly to the dot (and not including sleep) was spent trekking through the thick foliage of the jungle. It was prone to tripping the kids up, while the digimon were more than happy to tramp over it, seeming far more in touch with it, so to speak.<br>Amongst them, they chatted and they argued.

"I'm telling you, Si, if there was a fire, you'd want to put on one shoe and one sock."

"Egakumon, you don't even wear shoes. You'd totally want both socks."

"I gotta say I agree with Simon, actually."

"Faris! You betray me, yeom."

"... um, Delfinimon?"

"Yes, Tobes McGrobes?"

"... you don't even have feet."

Heated discussions, indeed.

Lukas - in true form - was hanging back somewhat, cradling Gemon in his arms; the little digimon was chatting from where she was, even though her mouth barely came over the top of her human partner's coat-sleeve. After some time, Faris (with Delfinimon close in tow- once again, the aquatic digimon had taken to bumming a ride in Faris' arms) took it upon himself to hang back and step into stride with the newest member of their team- and yet, didn't say anything directly to him.

"Gemon's got a good idea. Hitching a ride's the oooonly way to travel, yeom," Delfinimon chirrupped; Gemon smiled, and Faris groaned with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, but I don't think that Gemon is heavy as a lead cinderblock. You're just getting yourself into this vicious cycle. You're never gonna lose weight if you don't walk for yourself."

"_You_ try dragging your stomach on the ground for twelve hours and get back to me, buddy-yeom."

"_Ugghhhh._"

Luke gave a look at the two bantering back and forth, keeping his mouth steadfastedly shut. A sort of faint smile played on his mouth, until: "... same goes for you, too, by the way," Faris said, sticking his tongue out tauntingly before speeding up his pace to catch up with Emily and Kamomon.

"... what do you suppose he meant by that?" the boy mumbled, looking at the small digimon he held.

Gemon turned herself around in Luke's arms, and looked up at him. "The part about the vicious cycle," the once-snake said simply, her big black eyes staring straight into her partner's green.

"You never give a straight answer, do you?"  
>Gemon smiled just so faintly, and had nothing more to say on the matter. There was little more, after that, <em>to<em> say, as from the head of the group, leading the way, was Simon's voice, cutting through the air:

"Call me crazy, but I think we've found it!"

"Okay, you're crazy but we've found it," Andrea snarked from behind, her hands on her hips. Rajamon snickered. Simon seemed to take a leaf from Deekamon's book and chose to ignore the comment. He was right enough;a small tunnel, just barely big enough for the kids to walk through and formed entirely by overgrown vines and roots, led into a larger one carved into a rock face.

"I'm getting tired of caves," Rajamon grumbled, peering in.

"I'd love to see you come up with a better way to connect areas," Iguamon replied simply; the feline sighed and nodded his head.

"Just feels like some architect of the digital world was getting lazy, y'know?"

Any further discussion on the matter was cut off by Egakumon. "So! Who's ready for another glorious cavey adventure?" It was hard to tell whether he was being sarcastic or earnest.

"You know it, bunnyboy," Simon said from beside his partner, holding down a hand for a low-five, and the rabbit's clawed hand slapped into the human's with a small "pamf" slapping sound.

"Glad someone's excited about it, huh?" Andrea said with a look at Rajamon, who nodded his head once.  
>With no more deliberation- but with a sort of shudder on Toby's part, followed by Lammon nuzzling her head into his side - the ragtag group of fourteen filed in.<p>

No sooner than they passed through the vegetation "entrance hall" and approached the rock part of the tunnel, they noticed something. There was a faint, tepid breeze blowing out of the cave mouth- not strong, but enough to ruffle the hair and clothes of the kids. That wasn't a surprise- caves 'breathed' even in the real world. However, the air had a sickly-sweet sort of smell, almost overpowering in intensity, almost reminiscent of the perfume that lingered in Lammon's ponytail's smoke.

"Y'know, I'd kinda _like_ to say I'm surprised, or bewildered, or curious what's causing that," Emily remarked, stopping momentarily and putting her hands behind her head, "but I'm just going to chalk it up to the digital world being weird again."

"Probably for the better!" Kamomon said cheerfully from Emily's side. The bird and the girl exchanged a smile and a chuckle, and then caught up the few steps they had fallen behind from the rest of the group. All involved quickly put it off their minds- even if the smell was a bit overwhelming. They had more important things to think about, though.  
>Like the fact that not five minutes into the cave, thus far a gentle downhill slope, they encountered a sheer wall- a dead-end.<p>

"Yyyyyikes, yeom," Delfinimon drawled, looking up. At the top - some twenty feet up - there was a faint light leaking out, barely illuminating the ceiling and opposite wall.  
>The actual wall in front of them, meanwhile, was nearly straight-up- it might have been climbable by someone with a loose definition of what constituted a safe hand- or foot-hold, but most of the kids (and most of the digimon, really) did not fit such a definition.<p>

Luckily, Andrea was not one of such people, and Rajamon was right along with her.  
>She knelt, and Rajamon scrambled onto her back, clasping his paws around and riding piggyback. Andrea drew her lips back into a thin expression of determination. She proceeded to - at a run - throw herself, Rajamon in tow, at the wall, grabbing at the nearest small outcropping to serve as holds for her hands and feet.<p>

"Is this normal?" Luke asked quietly, blinking slowly.

"Yes," Faris and Delfinimon said in chorus, deadpan and immediate.

"Good to know Rajamon hasn't changed," Gemon mumbled, raising her brow.

"Well, come on, then," Rajamon said, looking over his shoulder, as Andrea heaved herself up a foot or two.

What followed was a sort of awkward, apprehensive, rushed attempt to figure out what was going on- they knew Andrea would be fully willing to leave them in the dust if they stood around flapping their jaws for too long.  
>Egakumon and Iguamon could climb on their own, being bipedal; Kamomon, able to fly, would carry Gemon up so that Luke's hands would be free. Delfinimon and Lammon would both pull the same stunt Rajamon did and cling to humans' backs- though Simon volunteered to carry Lammon, as even though the sheep was very light for her size, she was still the better part of the size of her partner when clinging like such.<p>

It was slow going- those with Digimon on their backs had the extra weight to contend with, even discounting the fact that foot- and hand-holds were, though abundanat, small and treacherous, barely enough to carefully balance the balls of their feet on with bodies plastered against the wall.

"You're getting there," encouraged Gemon from atop Kamomon's head, over the sound of flapping wings. (The seagull thought it best to linger so as to help if anyone mistepped.)

Slow as it was, with grit teeth and quiet determination, the group made their way up; Andrea, having been the first to reach the top, stood and waited, letting Rajamon off of her back. Emily, the next up, turned around to help pull up the others; Faris was grateful for the help, drawling something about "... lugging this lunk of tuna." Delfinimon stuck her tongue out at him and smirked.  
>After that came Iguamon; Julian was soon to follow. Simon and Egakumon both refused Emily's help and hoisted themselves up. As soon as Simon let Lammon off of his back (she bowed her head and gave her thanks) both boy and rabbit - respectively - extended their hands to Luke and Toby to pull them up.<p>

As soon as they were at the top... it seemed there was no light at all. Or not bright enough to light up the opposite wall, at least; it was illuminated the same dim red light that they were coming to realize lit a number of caves, but nothing like what, from the bottom, had seemed to be harsh daylight. Now, they hadn't seen anything quite this odd yet- and yet were still willing to chalk it up to the Digital World's oddity.  
>In front of them stretched quite a length of straight-ahead-tunnel, the soft red glow lighting the way- like any other cave they had been in thus far.<p>

"Freakin' Digital World," Simon said, letting loose a sort of quasi-sigh. "Movin' on, then?"  
>Before he even finished saying it, the be-hatted boy was leading the way as per his usual manner, Egakumon right at his side. The rest of the group was quick to follow, but three hung back: Gemon, Luke kneeling to pick her up, and Iguamon.<p>

"You're seeing that too?" the dinosaur said quietly, simply, looking at the newest human member of the team.

"... yeah."  
>Luke cast a look back over his shoulder, picking Gemon into his arms again, and without much more delay the three shuffled ahead to re-join the group. Gemon, nestled in her partner's arms, furrowed her brow. Now, call her nuts... but they had just climbed up a wall. Looking back, it looked as though they were still on the path below, the path leading smooth and straight back outside, with no stone wall in front or in back of them.<br>Before they walked too far, Iguamon stopped again. he cast one look over his shoulder and then, using the big claws fixed to his gloves, quickly dislodged a couple of decent-sized rocks from the wall, quickly moving them to be directly underneath one of the glowing orbs in a simple, but distinctive, arrangement. He committed the sight to memory and continued after the group like nothing had happened.

* * *

><p>For a long while, the path was relatively straight-ahead; while it twisted and turned here and there, there were no splits in the path, nothing interesting, barely a noise outside of idle chatter and the beat of footsteps. It could be worse- there was nothing attacking them, it was dry, it was lit enough, there were no ways to get lost- just that meant it was scores more pleasant than the past couple Proxy Areas.<p>

Of course, this is just what it seemed to be.

It was a good while since they climbed the wall when Iguamon stopped, his red eyes darting off to the side and his lips drawing back into a dry expression. He grabbed Julian by the bottom of his shirt and gave a tug. His partner looked down at him with a quiet 'hmm?'.  
>"I placed those rocks there a hour ago," Iguamon said, jerking his thumb to indicate the small pile of rocks nestled below a light. Indeed, it was the same little arrangement- no alterations made, no pebble out of place.<p>

Julian furrowed his brow. "Hold up, guys," he said, turning to look at the others; in fact, some of them had already halted, having noticed the two stopping. The oldest boy looked at his partner again. "You're sure of this?"

Iguamon looked up, meeting Julian's gaze evenly, and nodded only once. He closed his eyes. "I'm not disposed to uncertainty."

"Once more, in English?" Faris mumbled, putting his hands behind his head.

"He's sure," Toby translated in a low voice; Faris coughed into his hand, looking up at the ceiling.

"It was a good idea, I think," Gemon piped up, almost hopping out of Luke's arms before he caught onto her again. When the other digimon (and humans) looked at her, she looked as though she would have shrugged.  
>"When we turned around, it looked like we had stayed on even ground. No cliff wall at all." Luke nodded but kept his mouth pointedly shut, looking at his feet.<p>

Emily cottoned on first. "So Iguamon was... conducting, like, a test?" Iguamon nodded.

"To see if anything else weird happened," Simon said thoughtfully, putting a hand to his chin. "... what gave you that idea anyway? I mean, I wouldn't have thought to." He was almost expecting a _that's because you don't think a lot_ from Andrea, but the girl put her hands in her pockets and stayed silent.

Iguamon paused, thinking. "Never hurts to take precautions," he said simply, and was close-mouthed from then on.

Rajamon frowned, his expression a bit incredulous. "So we've been going in one big circle?"

"Or, something is going out of the way to mess with us," Egakumon reasoned, putting one arm akimbo and idly adjusting his bandolier-like belt with the other.

"Somehow, I'm not really surprised," Andrea said, rolling her eyes. She was starting to get on her guard. Anything going wrong could probably be somehow linked to Era- or if it wasn't, he was a convenient scapegoat whom she internally figured few of their number would objecting to her using as said scapegoat. "So what do we do, just keep walking and hope something works out?" She twirled a bit of her hair around one finger.

"We could try backing up and out," Lammon piped up, looking at the ground as she thought, "since going forward doesn't seem to work. I- I mean... worst that can happen is that we end up outside, right?" She looked up for confirmation.

"Or get horrifically lo- oof, yeom!" Delfinimon began to wisecrack before Faris gently nudged her in the side with his foot. "Yeah, lammy-wammy's got a point well enough."

"... what _is_ it with you and nicknames today?" Kamomon said with an eyebrow raise, but there was a smile pulling at his beak.

At the end of the discussion, though - and it wasn't really a discussion, as it just turned into the group looking at eachother and shrugging - Lammon had the best... and only... idea. It made sense enough, and they'd yet to cover enough ground that it became too much of a bother.  
>It still didn't come without its fair share of grumbling, however.<p>

Until they actually got to walking. Only quite a while - nearly another hour - after they began to re-tread the path did they notice something incredibly peculiar.  
>There was a completely solid face of rock that wasn't there before.<br>"... well," Simon mumbled, slapping his palm to his forehead.

There was a sort of awkward silence, until...  
>Egakumon suddenly lunged at the wall.<p>

"**Magic Brush**!" the bunny yelled before he could be stopped, painting broad strokes in the air with his brush. He hopped back before he ran headlong into the wall, just in time for the symbol in the air to be painted. It began to shine and fired at the wall.

The beam of energy impacted the stone wall, and... the wall lost. That is to say, it exploded into purplish smoke, scented heavily with the same aroma that was on the wind when they entered the cave. Beyond it was a sharply-sloping hill that they hadn't recalled walking up in the slightest. Progress?

For a moment, the kids and digimon stood dumbstruck.

"H-how on earth did you know that would happen?" Rajamon said, no small amount of disbelief plain on his face.

Egakumon was mirroring the tiger's expression exactly. "I... _didn't_."

But there it was.  
>They were clearly being messed with- that much was clear. But what choice did they have but to follow the path they were presented with?<p>

The group slowly, carefully trekked down. The path was steep, treacherously so, and for someone to rush ahead would mean that they'd quickly lose their footing. Simon and Egakumon, leading the pack as was their wont, proved this rather spectacularly.  
>At the bottom of the slope, it evened out into a somewhat larger tunnel, at least at the mouth. As they grew quite close to the bottom, the boy-and-bunny pair caught sight of a digimon. Big, upright ears, a face covered by a silver mask... and then it was gone, having turned and dashed into the tunnel<br>"Hey!" Simon yelped, suddenly lurching forward; Egakumon leapt out to grab his partner's hand to stabilize him, forgetting that he was in fact jumping at his partner, sending both of them tumbling down the thankfully short rest of the way down the hill.

In true character, Simon chose to hold fast to his hat, while Egakumon clung to Simon's back; the other six pairs made haste to the bottom.

"Are you okay?" Luke was the first to ask, skidding to a stop- and almost crashed into by Emily and Egakumon, followed in turn by each other pair.

They could almost see the little birdies flying around Simon and Egakumon's heads.

"Just dandy! Whooooo..." Egakumon groaned, waving one hand in the air.

"What was that about?" Gemon said, blinking a couple times as Simon and Egakumon pushed themselves up to a sitting position.

"Saw something," Simon replied, rubbing his head. "Yeow. ... nah, nah, I'm fine," he said, waving away an offer for help from Faris and attempting to stand up. He failed, a bit dizzy from the tumble, and was grabbed by the arm by Andrea and pulled to stand. "Thankee."

"A digimon, I think," Egakumon elaborated. He paused, struck a thoughtful pose, and then added: "Almost looked like some kinda rabbit."

"Oh, no, can you imagine two Egakumon or, like, another Shokunimon running around?" Emily said with a giggle- even Julian cracked a dry '_heh_'.

"Aw, heck no! One of me's enough," the rabbit said, seeming quite self-aware. "World ain't got enough room for another great hero like me."  
>Okay, strike that self-aware thing.<p>

"I wanted to... well, see what was its deal, yeah?" Simon explained, gesturing with his hand.

"Well if there's a digimon..." Julian reasoned, hands in his pockets, "then it's either a threat, or might be able to help us. Either way, Simon had the right idea. Wrong execution, but right idea."

Simon chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, see?"

"No more leaping your way down hillsides, and we'll call it good," Rajamon said a bit sardonically.

Egakumon grinned. "Fine, then no more throwing yourself at rock walls."

Andrea couldn't help but crack a smile.

Their inertia lost, the group lurched to life again down the path. It was back to a straight-ahead path, though the lights seemed to be growing to be spaced further and further apart as they went; Toby was quick to begin using his D-GEAR for additional light, and the others (sans Luke, his hands and arms being occupied) were quick to follow suit.  
>And there was no sign of any other digimon- any other thing, at all, except for the group.<p>

And then, suddenly, at the end of the path - and indeed, it looked like another dead-end was up ahead - there was a shape, barely perceptible in the darkness, moving around, a black silhouette against a dark background.  
>Simon and Egakumon used exactly the same method from before: instant rush ahead. In fact, <em>everyone<em> followed the Simon'n'Egakumon school of ambush- possibly because they knew that their self-proclaimed leaders were going to do it anyway.

The dark shape turned to look at them. In the dim light, it was possible to see that it was indeed lapine, standing on two feet.  
>Its yellow eyes flickered to look at the approaching nigh-mob.<p>

It turned to face them, and then... leapt backwards, into the wall. It phased through as though it were incorporeal.

Simon and Egakumon, meanwhile, smashed into the wall as though they were very, very corporeal.

"This is not a good day for your faces, guys," Faris remarked, stifling a sort of awkward laugh.

"Shyaddap," Egakumon grumbled - he didn't see the humor in the situation - as he rubbed his smarting nose.

"Allow me, yeom," Delfinimon said, lolloping her way up to the wall. She proceeded to a sort of somersault, her tailfin beginning to glow. "**DolFin**!"  
>As the fin contacted the wall, just as Egakumon's attack had done on the previous wall, the barrier dissolved into sweet-smelling smoke revealing... more empty hallway, barely lit at all, totally still. It was somewhat taller than the tunnels thus far, a good ten feet tall and half again as many wide.<p>

"Proxy cave: two; Virtue Warriors: zero," Luke mumbled, deadpan and quiet; Gemon smiled faintly.

"It's still there," Egakumon said suddenly, lifting his head and bringing his hand down. Simon gave his partner a look and a raised eyebrow. "Trust me on this, Si."  
>And with that, Egakumon lunged forward again. This time, he ran into something- not a wall, but rather...<p>

A rabbit, well-concealed by the darkness. As the child-level bunny connected with her, the red orbs of light lining the walls flickered to life.  
>The digimon was hard to describe; she was pale pink in colour, with four ear-like protrusions - two for each side of her head -, two long whisker like ones further down her face, with one long, curling, crescent-shaped one in the center of her forehead. This came out from a hole in a silver face-mask, to which a length of pink fabric was tied in order to fasten it to her head. She had the strangest blue chestplate armor, with curled protrusions curling around her from behind.<p>

She didn't waste a moment; as soon as the light came back on, she jerked herself around into a full roundhouse kick. Egakumon yelped and leapt into the air and back towards the group, but wound up grazed by the kick and went tumbling for the second time. Before he could act, the rabbit digimon took off like a bolt down the path.

"What on earth-" Simon said, blinking.

"A Lekismon. Moon rabbit," Iguamon provided, and then looked up at Julian.  
>The tall boy nodded, and held up his D-GEAR. Iguamon was quickly bathed in light.<p>

"Iguamon, kickstart digivolve to... **Velocimon**!"  
>Just like that, the dinosaur took off right after the foreign rabbit, long strides carrying it closer to her. In fact, he quickly <em>passed<em> her- and merely stood his ground, growling and blocking the way. The kids and other digimon took off after- they were grateful that the digimon hadn't had much chance to run, lest they end up having to run a half-mile to catch up. They stopped before they got within her kicking range.

"What's the deal!" Egakumon called, approaching Lekismon; she had been focusing on Velocimon, but turned her head as the little lapine approached. "We just wanna know if you know the way out-"

"**Moon Light Bomb**!" Lekismon called, cutting off Egakumon, firing a bomb-like orb of of water from her hands; Egakumon managed to leap out of the way of it as it burst on the floor.

"Okay, fine," Egakumon grumbled. "We'll do this rabbit-o a rabbit-o."

"That's not a real phrase," Rajamon remarked as Simon's D-GEAR began to glow.

"Egakumon, kickstart digivolve to... **Shokunimon**!"

Adult-level rabbit to (presumably) adult-level rabbit, Shokunimon breathed out as he clutched his paintbrush tight. "Velocimon!" he said fast, "cover me- keep her from getting away!"

"I'm not a stone wall," the raptor said, but nodded his skull-masked head, "but I can oblige." Shokunimon nodded, breathed out, and leapt forward with a somersault.

"**Tumble Kick**!"

Lekismon, to Shokunimon's dismay, leapt out of the way nearly effortlessly- and returned with a kick of her own, striking down from the middle of her jump away. "**Moon Night Kick**!" This managed to bean Shokunimon soundly in the gut, and he stumbled backwards.

And yet he didn't pause for even a moment, even though he was winded as he called his attack. "**Paint**" (wheeze) "**Blast**!"  
>The torrent of paint escaped from the tip of Shokunimon's brush and splattered towards Lekismon. Once again she leapt away- but some got her on the foot.<p>

Said foot began to dissolve into scented smoke. Shokunimon's eyebrows shot up.  
>"Soooomething tells me that's not supposed to happen," Kamomon mused a bit sardonically.<p>

"**Tumble Kick**!" Shokunimon yelled again, throwing his full body forward into a hard kick- and this time, it connected right in Lekismon's solar plexus. This, in turn, caused her entire body to go up in smoke. No light- no digitama left behind.  
>There was something fishy about this, to be completely sure of it.<p>

"What on earth..." Simon said quietly, scratching his head and adjusting his goggles.  
>The same sentiment was immediately echoed by every digimon and child in the vicinity- because every inch of the cave was suddenly dissolving into the same perfumed smoke, tinted lavender and pale sea-green, which was quickly blown away by a dry, thin breeze. The light was suddenly blinding, their pupils still enlarged from the dim light of the cave. Before their vision adjusted, Andrea and Rajamon had one thing to say:<p>

"_Freakin' Digital World._"

When they looked around, they saw themselves in a completely different environment than they had been in that morning. It was almost entirely devoid of foliage, except for thin, low-lying scrub- not a tree to be found. It was rocky and rugged and arid, the air dry and cool (really, welcome after "hot and humid"). More than vegetation, rocks of varying size and hue made up the scenery. They were on a flat landing of sorts, a small cave behind them with an overcropping of rock above, a vast cliff wall behind, with craggy mountains and valleys in front of them.

Luke was almost in awe, Gemon the same- Shokunimon and Velocimon hastily shrunk back down to their child levels, and the others were just trying to find their place and gain their bearings. There was no time for this, however. Suddenly, a voice spoke:  
>"Are you friend or foe?"<p>

From above, dropped a blue shape that landed in front of the group with a kick-up of dust. Intense red eyes, eyes that seemed to bore into their minds, drifted over the kids, and settled on Luke and Gemon.  
>For a moment, there was a tense silence; six out of seven digimon were preparing for a fight.<p>

And then the less-than-friendly greeter digimon bowed his head.  
>"Hello again."<p>

"Hi again, Rafikmon," Luke said meekly, a bit awkwardly, holding up one hand in a halfhearted half-wave.


	26. Chapter 26: Altitude Sickness

_Author's Note: Aahh, sorry about the delay again. We should be back on schedule for one chapter a week after this- I'm graduating from highschool on Sunday! But more importantly it means I'll have more time to write. Because clearly, that's what's important. Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>Some time later, they were headed down a small tunnel- ducking into the side of a cliff. The tunnel was rough and looked fairly new, as though it were dug by hand instead of being created naturally- or, however natural the digital world ever got. Indeed, they were in the Wild Mountains- for Luke and Sampamon, it was a return. Familiar ground was little comfort, but it was still better than nothing.<br>"This is that monkey digimon you mentioned, I guess?" Emily said to the seventh child as they followed Rafikmon. Luke nodded. Their guide was large enough that he had to hunch over even further than normal to avoid hitting his head.

"You have spoken of me?" the monkey said, casting a look over his shoulder.

"As... part of a bit of a larger story, yeah," Luke mumbled, no small amount of uncomfortable. Rafikmon nodded his head and did not press. Toby looked over at the other blond, his face sympathetic, but said nothing.  
>For a few minutes, they continued in quiet conversation and milling amongst themselves; before long, they walked into a slightly larger chamber- barely large enough for the seven kids, their digimon, and the monkey to sit down comfortably. Barely is the key word- it was still just big enough. The only light shone in from small cracks and holes in the ceiling that opened to the air, no mysterious globes of light to be seen. It was just possible to make out another tunnel running out from the side of the room.<p>

Luke looked around, the corner of his mouth drawn back. "This place... doesn't look the same," he mumbled; Gemon squeaked her assent.

"More... run-down?" the little digimon tried, squinting in the low light.

"This is a makeshift affair," Rafikmon said, situating himself on the floor, sitting tailor-style. "We've been having... troubles."

Rajamon looked up at the monkey, lying down and folding his paws. "I assume that's something to do with the, uh, welcoming party? You know. The whole... dropping down on us, scaring us half to death thing."

"I apologize," Rafikmon said, his face even, "if I caused you any distress, but we can't afford to take risks at the moment. We are currently under efforts to prevent our Area from being overtaken, and newcomers must be treated with suspicion."  
>Somehow, it couldn't even come as a surprise. Era had been attacking the jungle, it made sense that...<p>

"This has something to do with those digimon we saw, doesn't it," Luke said quietly, looking up at Rafikmon; Gemon, too, looked up with her shiny black eyes. Rafikmon paused, then nodded once.

"You are lucky that you got away." The primate sighed, and closed his eyes. "Luckily- or, as luckily as it can be said to be - they are not around. They merely formed the first attack front. They left almost directly after you two did."  
>Luke looked uncomfortable; Gemon nodded as best she could. Rafikmon continued.<br>"I am going to assume that Deekamon sent you through here?"

"Something like that," Julian confirmed, sitting back and breathing out. "So, because I'm going to guess that some of our number," and a pointed look was here shot at Simon and Egakumon. (Simon in particular perked up noticeably. Hero-boy mode: activated) "... are going to ask anyway... what's the situation here?"

Rafikmon looked like he might have been about to respond, when suddenly he cast a look upwards. A pebble fell down to the ground from the roof. "I would suggest moving." Before another word was spoken, Rafikmon took off down the tunnel that they hadn't come in through; judging by the fact that the roof began to audibly crack above them, the fourteen took absolutely no unneccesary time in following.

"What's going on!" Emily yelped, being closest behind their primate guide.

"That... would be the trouble I mentioned." Almost on cue, there was the sound of the little room all but caving in with a great rumble (and a quick look over the shoulder, as those in the back would find, the sight matched up - a massive crumbling of rock falling as the room fell to pieces), followed by running footsteps, six feet pounding the ground. Before long at all, there followed a nasty laughter, a snorting giggle.

"Fran-freakin'-tastic," Andrea mumbled as she cast a look over her shoulder- dark shapes were closing in.  
>She repeated the sentiment a second late. First, the hostile digimon were plain to see - three short little humanoid things, dressed in rather crude brown vests, shorts, and loincloths, with vibrant red mohawks on their heads and spiked clubs in their hands- and nasty big-toothed smiles on their faces.<br>But what caused her to repeat herself was that Simon and Egakumon had, true to form, stopped running to turn and face them.  
><em>Of course.<em>

"**Pummel Claw**!" the rabbit yelled, and one of the green digimon - at whom the attack was aimed - leapt out of the way.

"**Gobli Bomb**!" it sneered back, gathering a ball of fire in its hand and throwing it right back at the rabbit, who dodged it in turn- but only narrowly.

"Hold up!" the girl called; Rafikmon stopped, as did the rest of the group, confused. Rajamon grabbed Iguamon's tail in his mouth as Andrea grasped Julian by the upper arm and began to forcibly turn him around. Both were about to ask what was going on, until they, too, saw.

"What, an, idiot," Julian said flatly, but the two older members of the team lunged forward, their digimon following suit. Luckily, it was only a short distance to close- partially because the hostile digimon were driving the rabbit and the boy back.

"I can't say I'm surprised, really," Rajamon grumbled, followed immediately by, "**Prince Fire**!" It was hard to speak further when one was firing a blast of fire from one's mouth, and so had no further commentary.  
>In true form, the laconic Iguamon had very little to say for himself, except for:<p>

"**Rock Strike**!"

The blast of fire and the propelled rock joined in with a yell of "**Magic Brush**!" on Egakumon's part, and in order each attack impacted a green digimon- and like Lekismon had, they suddenly burst apart into smoke.  
>"Again?" Egakumon mumbled, furrowing his brow and stroking his chin (or, what he had of a chin- really, more of "stroking his lower jaw") thoughtfully.<p>

"What on earth was that, yeom?" Delfinimon mumbled from where she stood, craning her neck to get a better look at what was going on.

"... Digimon," Julian said, after a moment. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Simon said, raising his eyebrows high.

Julian nodded slowly. "Haven't you noticed that the D-GEARs-" (the digimon, almost as one, gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'D-GEAR units') "haven't gone off the past two... fights? If you can really call them that."

"I guess... they haven't," Emily chimed in slowly, blinking a couple times. She took the device from the pocket in her overalls, looking at it quizzically. "Maybe it's just... not on?"

"I don't think that's possible," Kamomon said from his partner's side, but even he gave the little plastic device a look and tilted his head. "Is it?"

Simon paused for a moment, and seemed to be thinking hard. "... I'll be right back," he said, and then suddenly took off like a shot back down the path, back down the way they came from, Egakumon hot on his heels.

"I'm starting to think this is normal for them," Luke remarked offhandedly to Rafikmon, who nodded his head once.  
>For about fifteen seconds, those remaining waited, the only sound being Simon's retreating footsteps - wondering what it was that had gripped the goggle-wearing youth's attention so - until they heard his voice echoing back.<p>

"_Called it_!"

"... what?" Toby mumbled, furrowing his brow, but Lammon was already pacing forward at a brisk pace.

"We'd best see what he, ah... 'called'," the sheep said with a look over her shoulder; with a sort of reluctant groan to life, the group on the whole followed suit. Rafikmon brought up the back, casting a look over his shoulder.  
>The monkey furrowed his brow.<p>

Andrea, leading the way, very nearly crashed into Simon as he came barreling back up the way. "What's your _deal_ today, boy-scout?" the girl said, trying hard not to show her frustration. (It wasn't working, and it bled into her voice.)

"Checkit," Egakumon said, jerking his thumb-claw over his shoulder, tilting his head for extra emphasis.

Behind the pair, the room the kids had momentarily rested in, the room that they had clearly heard and _seen_ cave in... was clean and intact, not a pebble out of place, as though nothing had happened. Rafikmon furrowed his brow deeper- but any thoughts the monkey may have had were quickly extinguished by Delfinimon.

"It... kinda smells like the smoke, yeom," the dolphin remarked with no small amount of confusion in her voice.

And then, a voice from above, faint and smooth: "**Drowsy Smoke**!"  
>To the astute, things would be snapping together to form some semblance of, well, sense... were it not for the fact that that sickeningly sweet smell began to grow stronger. From every opening a thick, nearly-opaque blueish smoke began to pour into the room, amplifying the scent to overwhelming levels. A sort of dull, cloudy feeling began to overwhelm the mind of each digimon and human that breathed it in- that is to say, each digimon and human in the room.<p>

And then it all went white.

* * *

><p>Wherever one person began and the next ended was unclear- it was a place of complete ambiguity. Was it even a place? A loose definition could have called it a waking dream, but none of them were awake or aware.<p>

_You could just quit here,_ a voice drifted in from nowhere. The words were indistinct, like a conversation falling on the ears of someone just falling asleep. The words were muddled and confused and indistinguishable, until...

* * *

><p>The world suddenly slammed back into motion like a car screeching to a stop, its inhabitants jerked forward and snapped back by the safety belts.<br>They - all of them, humans and digimon alike- were in a room, at least five times as big as the rocky cave they had fallen asleep in. It was smoothly domed, the floor made of glassy porcelain and the walls and ceiling constructed of what seemed to be stained glass.  
>Eyes glazed over, bodies limp and feeling leaden, it was a surreal experience- like none of them couldn't catch up to what was going on, that they were going in slow-motion and the world in fast-forward. And for all except one pair, they still felt as though they were half-asleep.<p>

"What's gong _on_!" Simon yelled out with a concerted effort, and as he said those words, Egakumon beside him forced himself up... and was immediately pushed down by a digimon appearing right next to the human boy and all but perching on the rabbit. It took an effort to turn his head to look, and he reared back when when did.

Simon found himself staring into what looked at first shy like six eyes. The creature itself was short (why, only about as tall as Toby), and almost human in form- albeit with purplish skin and long pointed ears.  
>Around its neck was a frill of pale-blue fur that faded into sweet-smelling fire-like smoke in the back. Large, smooth lime-geen gems were embedded in its body and attached to silver bangles on its arms, waist, and legs. Two big silver claws were on each foot, and it seemed to be wearing dark steel-blue breeches.<br>The eyes themselves, it was quickly apparent... four of the six, lime-green sclera and red pupils, were painted on, part of a mask that covered the creature's face, half black and half blue. Two of the eyes, however, were vivid yellow with wide coal-black pupils, and were definitely real.

"Hey, kid," the digimon hissed in the same voice that had cut through the foggy abyss what felt like just minutes before. It was disconcerting to hear it speak, when what looked like a mouth was painted onto the apparatus that covered its face. "G'mornin'."  
>His tone was nasty and smug, and the glint in his eye...<p>

"Th'heck's going on!" Simon asserted again, jerking backwards and nearly toppling over. "... and get off my partner!"

"Why, you're just the first to really _come-to_," the digimon replied, seeming offended as he stepped off of Egakumon. "Well, I mean after the monkey, but he scampered off. Seems he wasn't too concerned with you lot, hmm?"  
>Egakumon stumbled his way to his feet, but he felt like his limbs were dead weight. A quick look around did indeed reveal... no Rafikmon.<p>

It was little comfort that Simon's D-GEAR slowly chirruped to life.

_Magoriamon. Perfect-level ghost digimon. Though it is physically weak, Magoriamon confuses and confounds enemies with illusions via its Fantastic Image attack, or simply slows them down with Drowsy Smoke._

"That'd be me," the strange digimon said with a sarcastic little bow. Could a bow be sarcastic? It sure seemed the part.

"Great," Egakumon grumbled, casting a look around, and slowly brought himself to his full (unimposing) height. "So it's one-on-one then!" He brandished his paintbrush, but Magoriamon only laughed.

"Call me crazy, bunnyboy," he drawled, "but shouldn't you wait until you can feel your feet before you try to challenge digimon to battles?"

"I get the feeling," Simon reasoned slowly, stumbling backwards to lean against the wall as he picked himself off the ground, "that you're the reason the last proxy cave was so... weird." As leaden as Egakumon's limbs felt, Simon's felt twice as much so- possibly because he wasn't a digimon, like with Forbidramon's attack that split them up before... it affected him more, perhaps?)

Magoriamon giggled. "Veeery perceptive! You lot _really_ aren't that bright..." he added the last part as a sort of afterthought. "And, why, you might even suppose that I created the past couple of digimon you created! Perish the thought."

"You sound like a digimon we used to know," Egakumon said offhandedly - he couldn't help but compare the snide, condescending tone to...

"What..." Luke groaned from not far away, and he slowly brought a hand up to put to his forehead- but stopped. In one arm, he still held Gemon. The little digimon was unconscious, and breathing- but shallowly. His head heavy, Luke's eyes frantically darted around and fell on the rabbit and be-goggled boy... and the hostile.

"Oh, speaking _of_!" Magoriamon snickered. "Fancy that. We were just talking about- hah!" The laugh interrupting the sentence came as a response to Egakumon (still in child form as he was) suddenly throwing himself at Magoriamon, wrapping his arms around the imp's midsection in attempts to drag him down in the tackle. This, perhaps predictably, proved almost entirely futile- but it still shook (on a physical level) the perfect-level perhaps more than it might have been expected to, despite not causing damage.

With a clumsy gait, Simon stumbled his way over to the other boy. Despite his own lack of balance, he extended a hand to help pull Luke to his feet, which the blond boy rather apprehensively took, stumbling back, releasing Simon's hand and supporting himself on the inward-sloping wall of the dome.  
>"So, hey, help me out here," Simon huffed, looking over his shoulder- where Egakumon was clumsily bouncing around to try and avoid kicks and open-palmed strikes from Magoriamon, who seemed to be rather enjoying the entire experience. "See if you can get the other guys... y'know. Awake."<p>

"How do you suggest I do that?" Luke replied, a bit skeptical in tone. Slowly, Gemon began to lift her head (body?), her eyes just barely cracking open.

Pause.

"_Excellent question_!"

Simon may have been about to extrapolate on some theories (unlikely), when a rather pressing matter came to hand. That is to say, Magoriamon kicking Egakumon deftly into the glass-like wall with the loud sound of glass cracking. "A little help, Si!" the rabbit-like digimon yelled, groaning.

"So I'll get back to you on that," the goggle-wearing boy amended quickly, and with all the grace of a moose with a bum leg, stumbled back towards where he had woken up. He had barely taken three steps when his D-GEAR began to shine.

"Egakumon, kickstart digivolve to... Shokunimon!"

"Bigger bunny, not much of a bigger brain," Magoriamon remarked dryly, before he threw out his hands palms-out. "**Fantastic Image**!" Smoky, ephemeral shadows shot out of his palms, and wrapped like snakes around Shokunimon- mostly gathering around his face, quite clearly obscuring his vision.

What happened next was like watching Shokunimon be incredibly drunk- even though the leaden feeling was leaving his body, he started to slash out with his paintbrush in random directions, doing hops and jumps away from things the three observers couldn't see, while Magoriamon pulled on the shadows - still attached to his hands - as though they were marionette strings. It was almost painful to watch, as Shokunimon seemed to be quite in bit of distress.

And then the rabbit rushed right at Luke with a sort of panicked yell.

"Holy crap!" the blond blurted, stumbling backwards and indeed falling backside-first to the floor- and his D-GEAR began to shine very brightly, which consequently shot into Luke's partner digimon. She leapt forward, out of his arms, and gave a little squeak, and perhaps that was all there was to say- was there no name for this?  
>You see, Gemon... suddenly grew quite a bit. For a few seconds, her form changed to that of a small serpent, into a white shining form of Plumon. She quickly grew beyond that, the crown of feathers bursting from under the gem in her forehead, and as the light began to fade, she landed on the ground with a little thud, her body moving like liquid.<p>

Guess there was nothing like a hallucinating teammate rushing at your drowsy, devoid-of-fine-motor-skills human partner to trigger a digivolution, and darn quick at that.

Luke said nothing, a sort of smile tugging at his lips- as the child-form-once-again snake let loose a short little hiss, comparatively high-pitched, as she suddenly slithered forward and quite unceremoniously tripped Shokunimon. It wasn't much of a feat- even with her body on the ground, Sampamon merely had to put herself rather quickly in the rabbit's path to bring him tumbling down.

"Impressive lightshow!" Magoriamon taunted, snickering. He pulled one hand back, and while Shokunimon didn't pull back - as perhaps it might have seemed, from the way that the "strings" pulled, he instead began to yelp incessantly, jumping up and hopping from paw to paw like he were on hot coals.

"Why... he's acting like he's actually being hurt. But it's just an illusion, right?" Simon mumbled, but his expression was one of concern and worry.

"I think I heard once," Luke said quietly, while Sampamon quietly slithered around, trying to avoid being trodden on, "that if you believe an illusion real, you can think it's actually hurting you..."

Simon frowned deeply, quickly trying to weigh his options.  
>And then, with characteristic complete lack of warning, Simon threw himself at Magoriamon just as his partner had not long before, slamming his elbow into the digimon's side.<p>

"Oh, geeze," Luke blurted out, but... it seemed to work. As soon as Simon impacted Magoriamon, the shadowy "strings" seemed to snap and fall away from the rabbit. ... and Simon, in turn, got a huge lungful of the imp's smoky mane, and stumbled away, coughing and dizzy.

"Oh!" Shokunimon said quick as he looked down and noticed what was now Sampamon; a smile crossed his face, but then he realized very quick what was going on behind him.  
>"Uh, I'd congratulate you, but-"<p>

Sampamon rolled her eyes with the trace of a smile; as Shokunimon sprung back into action, leaping at Magoriamon, Sampamon looked up at Luke. "Shall we do as Simon asked?" the snake said quietly. "Wake the others up, that is."

"Don't you imagine they'd want some help?" Luke replied, frowning a bit; the snake shook her head.

"Knowing them? No."

"**Tumble Kick**!"  
>Magoriamon was not a physical specimen, but he was as flighty as the smoke he used to attack; he leapt effortlessly out of the way of Shokunimon's attack. "I can't... hit him!" the rabbit lamented, rearing down and leaping at the smoky monster again- again to no avail. He got no response- Simon nearly fell down against the wall, holding himself up only through sheer power of will.<p>

Magoriamon snickered, suddenly feinting towards Simon. Shokunimon growled, grabbing his paintbrush tight as he rushed at his enemy - and was once ore deftly dodged. In the aftermath, Shokunimon only barely avoided smashing into Simon, kicking hard against the ground to turn around.  
>Suddenly, however...<p>

"**Shadow Shock**!"  
>Despite her own words to her partner, Sampamon bowed her head down and fired off a blast of crackling black energy from the gem on her forehead, which impacted Magoriamon. It didn't do a whole great amount of damage, but...<br>The imp growled, and lunged for the snake. Or rather, for Luke, who stood behind her.

Aw, heck, no.

Shokunimon threw himself full-tilt at Magoriamon, his lip curled back. Simon, at the same time, pushed himself upright despite his dizziness, holding his D-GEAR up as it began to glow.

"Shokunimon, virtuous digivolve to... StarShokunimon!"

As the pieces of his armor snapped into place, the rabbit didn't waste a moment unsheathing his sword from its paintbrush scabbard. His pace picked up to catch to the smoky imp, his powerful legs and long strides leading him to catch up easily.  
>As Magoriamon was lifting a hand to strike out at Luke, StarShokunimon saw fit to interrupt.<br>"**Starlight Blade**!"

The sword shining bright, he slashed out horizontally at Magoriamon, who gave an unearthly howl in return, and stopped in his tracks to face the rabbit.  
>"<strong>Room of Mirrors<strong>!" the hostile digimon yelled out, and suddenly... there were ten of him, surrounding StarShokunimon. Quickly, he leapt backwards to give Sampamon and Luke a wide berth.

"You ain't got much attention span, huh," StarShokunimon taunted, jumping out of the way as one of the images of Magoriamon leapt forward to strike. "One little distraction, and you change gears immediately." He struck out with his blade, striking true on one of the Magoriamon, and like the digimon he had created before, it burst apart into sweet-smelling smoke.

The remaining nine images began to laugh.  
>"Much the same to you, kiddos," they all sneered. StarShokunimon snarled, and behind his metal visor, he closed his eyes.<p>

With frightening speed, then, he lunged forward and began to swipe and stab out at the images of Magoriamon that surrounded him, wielding his sword a seasoned samurai. At the end of what took maybe ten seconds, only one Magoriamon remained.

"You take out all of the images, but leave the real one. You're really bad at figuring this kind of thing out, buddy," the digimon taunted.

"I was giving you a chance to surrender. If I can defeat them," and the rabbit pointed his sword at Magoriamon threateningly. "I can defeat you."

Magoriamon's yellow eyes focused on the blade, and then he chuckled.  
>"How <em>honorable<em>. Too bad I have no such burden!"

"You were warned, buddy," the rabbit remarked, and suddenly threw himself forward, blade gripped tight.  
>"<strong>Starlight Blade<strong>!"

The blade struck true, and with that one swipe of a blade, Magoriamon began to fade into data.  
>"Have fun," he gave one last taunt, before the data shot into the air, leaving an egg behind. With him, left also the stain-glass dome- revealing the kids to be standing on top of a plateau in the open air. As the dome went, so did the kids' drowsiness- almost immediately, the five kids and their digimon who hadn't been yet fullly awakened began to stir. Why, even Simon coughed a few times, visibly expelling smoke, and seemed to be much better for the wear.<p>

StarShokunimon bowed his head, and with a flash of light, the tall black rabbit was replaced once more by the small, somewhat chubby Egakumon. "Welcome back," he said to the group at large.

"And welcome back to Sampamon, it looks like," Lammon said with a happy shake of her tail.

There was no time for much more, however- Rafikmon, his feet and hands pounding on the rocky ground, suddenly rushed over to them.  
>"Thank the sovereigns you're alright," the monkey said, his voice grim.<p>

"What's the big deal?" Andrea said, still a bit woozy as she got to her feet.

The monkey looked over each kid in time, frowning deeply- but still, some relief showed on his face. "You've been missing for two weeks, ever since the attack in the cave. We were starting to fear that you were..."


	27. Chapter 27: Lost Time

"Well, _that worked_, didn't it?"

"More of a delay than _you_ ever won us, steroidmon."

In the dim room, a trickle of smoke began to siphon up through the cobblestone floor, slowly taking form. There was a momentary pause, before:

"Welcome back, Magoriamon," the second speaker drawled, seeming rather satisfied. "I take it they assume you...?"

Magoriamon snorted, closing his eyes- even so, the painted-on eyes on his mask stared straight ahead. He put a hand to his temple. "Something as simple as a faked death? Little lightshow, empty egg left behind? _Please._ Don't underestimate me, Epiddles. ... Epidemon."

"You couldn't hold them up for more than two weeks?" the first speaker snapped, smashing his fist into a rock pedestal, sending a crack down its length. Magoriamon raised an eyebrow.

"It's not _my_ fault that you can't get anything done with the time I'm buyin' you, puppydog," the imp taunted, and the smirk painted on its mask only added to the tone- and then he leapt out of the way to avoid the incoming fist.

"Don't press your luck!"

"Leave my subordinates alone, _Cujo_," Epidemon sneered, laying back. "Beat up your own, if that's what you need to feel like a big mon. Or a playground bully, whichever, I don't know what your ego needs. At least mine are actually doing something."

"They're making up for your inability to do anything but sit around and be a smart-"

"Temper, _temper_, Javer-baby."

"You are _completely_ useless!"

"_Geeze_, cut back on the roid-rage, will 'ya?"

Further conversation was cut short by soft footsteps, and an equally soft voice- but the soft tone barely hid a vast wealth of disdain. "You do realize you're not getting anything done by arguing like children?" All three digimon in attendance stood at attention (or, rather, Magoriamon and Javermon did- Epidemon was still sitting down, but he sat up straighter) as Era's inexplicable entrance.

He had a penchant for doing that.

The three digimon stayed in silence, waiting.  
>Era cast his gaze over each of them in turn, his face impassive; he sighed, and took off his glasses to polish them on his shirt.<p>

"You've wasted time." There was no small amount of irritation in his voice- as though he thought the idea, or perhaps the very things he were speaking to, were thoroughly below him. "But you have a setup. Take it. The Sovereigns won't be fooled, but as far of the rest of the Digital World is concerned..." He put his glasses back on.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back on the farm (or more literally, back in the Wild Mountains and thus far away from anything resembling a farm), seven digimon and seven humans were trying very hard to try and grasp what they were being told. They were doing this by means of taking off immediately, Rafikmon only barely to keep pace with the harried, hurried group that took off at a mad dash almost immediately upon hearing the news.<p>

The sun was starting to go down, leaving what heat the ground had absorbed to dissipate and leaving the air with quite a chill. It had been several hours since they had escaped Magoriamon's illusion, and they hadn't taken much of a break from moving since- even though more than half of them were still trying to shake off the effects of their being knocked out.

Julian and Iguamon had reasoned (read: guessed) that they had probably been in a bit of a time dilation, and thus had only been out for a few hours from their perspective while more time passed outside of the glass dome they had been in. It didn't help, really, but the thought of _not_ having been out cold for two weeks straight was a bit of a comfort.

"Gonna, freakin', die here, buddy," Faris groaned, almost doubling over and breathing heavy, stumbling to a stop as he tripped over a rock. Prompted by Faris, the group on the whole came to a sort of awkward stop.

"We're... almost there," Rafikmon surmised, casting a look to the rising moon. He had been instructing them throughout their madcap run towards the next area- where Deekamon had told them to go. It was fortunately close, compared to others, but...

"There's no way," Kamomon squawked breathlessly, "that we can make it tonight. My feet feel like they're going to fall off."

A murmur of agreement passed through the digimon, complaining of aching flippers and sore hooves to just plain pained paws. Even Sampamon had slithered under her own power for a while to give her partner's a reprieve from carrying him, but she was currently draped over Luke's shoulders like so many wet noodles.  
>This was to say nothing of the kids, with stitches in their sides and a shortage of breath, red in the face and breathing hard.<p>

Even almost on the verge of passing out, Emily groaned. "But... we've lost so much time," she lamented, but almost teetered over now that she was standing still. Kamomon was quick to help her sit down on the dusty ground. Like dominoes falling, the others followed suit, some less gracefully than others. Drenched with sweat as they were, the fact that the temperature had dropped began to set in.

"I don't figure it's terribly safe to build a fire," Andrea supposed, huffing out a bit of an unamused breath.

"No," Rafikmon affirmed almost immediately, sitting down and crossing his legs. There was a momentary pause (wherein most of the gathered groaned), before the monkey smiled just a bit. "But I suggest you do it anyway. Frozen Chosen Children do nobody any good."

Immediately the children and their digimon set off in attempts to find fuel for a fire- Rajamon could easily provide the actual flame, of course, but there was nothing without actual fuel for it.  
>It was scarce to find, and they wound up sweeping a fair amount of space looking for suitable plant matter.<p>

"I can feel my hands going numb, broski," Faris complained to Julian, with whom he was gathering.

"Mm," Julian replied, nodding his head.

Faris raised his eyebrows. "Now don't show too much emotion there, Jules."

"He's just thinking, I think, yeom," Delfinimon piped up, nodding her head in a self-satisfied way; Iguamon nodded back to the dolphin in affirmation.

"Huh. What about?" Faris mumbled, trying to read his sibling's expression to no avail.

Julian waited a few seconds before he responded.  
>"What does it mean if we've been missing for two weeks?" he said, casting a look to his younger brother, who raised his eyebrows. "If we've been nowhere, then what does the rest of the digital world think?"<p>

Faris frowned and furrowed his brow. They had known that they had lost time- what could Era have done in the time they had missed - but one of the most obvious problems had failed to come to mind. "They'd think we're..." Dawning realization. "Ah, crap."  
>Iguamon nodded his head slowly. The dinosaur closed his eyes and breathed out, his nostrils flaring.<p>

"Ah, heck, man. I donno," Faris said. They had a small pile of things that would burn, but probably not for long- but to go much further would result in losing sight of Rafikmon and Luke, who agreed to "hold their spot", so to speak. He breathed out, and rubbed his arms. It was cold, and his tank-top wasn't cutting it. "Let's go back, man."

"I second the motion," Delfinimon said, already taking off towards the point of origin. Faris was quick to follow, but before he could go very far, he felt a small weight added to his shoulders. At that moment, Julian passed by him, devoid of his usual green vest and carrying the entirety of what they had gathered for fire fuel.

Iguamon hung back. There was something or another on the dinosaur's mind, but his face didn't show it. He looked up at Faris, who now had his older brother's vest around his shoulders- it wasn't much, but it was something.  
>"Ah, man, <em>awkward<em>," the boy chuckled, taking off after the others. Iguamon promptly followed.

The two brothers and their partners weren't the first back- Simon and Emily, and their respective partners, had already come back, meaning they were waiting on Toby and Andrea. Between the two there was a decent little pile of fire-fodder, but the actual firestarter was still away.

"Geeze, I hope Andrea's not tearing Pipsqueak down for, I donno... not collecting stuff right," Simon was mumbling, looking in the direction that the last two had gone, as Julian and Faris came within range.

"She's not really that bad," Emily said, hugging her knees to her chest. "Y'know. Just... abrasive. 'Zzat the word?"

Faris was tempted to make some sort of crack about _yeah, she's only a firebreathing dragon_, but elected against it, instead sitting down unceremoniously. Delfinimon immediately threw herself over his lap with some thoroughly unnecessary dramatics.

"Oh, Faris, I am slain by all this manual labor, yeom!" she cried out, grinning and throwing a fin to her forehead as though she were swooning.

Iguamon smirked a little bit. He elbowed Julian in the leg and jerked his thumb towards Delfinimon once Julian looked. "What she said." This one little comment from the dino sent Egakumon and Kamomon into a fit of laughter- why, who knew that Iguamon had anything approaching a sense of humor? With that going on, it was easy to miss the return of the final pair.

"I think we missed something," Lammon's voice said, quiet as ever; the little sheep had a smile on her face, as did her partner. Andrea then dropped the contents of her arms into the pile- actual sticks and bits of scrap wood, scrounged from who-knew-where, and easily doubling their kindling.

"And guess who wins again," Rajamon said, sticking his tongue out at Egakumon.

Egakumon immediately countered by pulling at the sides of his mouth with his claws to pull a silly face at the tiger. "Wasn't a contest!"

"Says the loser." With that, and a puff of breath, Rajamon gently blew a stream of flame onto the pile, eventually causing it to ignite. Within a few moments, they had a small fire going- and while it wasn't much, it was exponentially better than nothing. With luck, it would last a couple of hours- with similar luck, they'd be asleep by then and it'd be less of an issue.

"You know," Sampamon said quietly from around her partner's neck - the two were sitting near Rafikmon, having resolved to against the monkey for heat until the fire was made - such that only Luke himself could hear her, "you _are_ allowed to be a part of this. And moreover, I'm cold." Luke sighed (maybe even rolled his eyes) and scooted closer to the little fire. Sampamon smiled.

"Pardon my guilt complex," Luke said in a hushed voice to the snake, but a smile played on his lips.

"Welcome to the party," Simon said with his usual sort of grin plastered across his face, knees pulled up near his chest.  
>There was barely the room around the little fire for all seven pairs, but there was still room enough. Rafikmon hung back where he was; Toby craned his neck to look at the monkey.<p>

"Uhm, you okay?"

The monkey lifted his head, then subsequently bowed it. "My kind are from the tundra, small one," he said. "These temperatures are nothing to me."

And that was that.  
>There was no food to be had, but the gurgling of stomachs was overtaken simply by the joy of not being in motion- and the sound was handily covered up by conversation. The digimon finally had a chance to welcome Sampamon, in her child form, to their midsts- today was, after all, the first time they had ever actually seen her in her rightful form, not merely in statue form or Deekamon's drawings in the dirt.<p>

"Finally feels like things are the way they should be, yeah?" Kamomon chuckled, stretching out his wings. The bird paused, as a thought struck him. "Well, I mean aside from the fact that... everything. But we're finally all together in child form, yeah?"

"Like we can take on the woooorld," Egakumon said in a singsong voice, splaying his hands wide and tilting his head back.

"And we may well have to," Sampamon added with a yawn.

Rajamon gave a bit of a dark chuckle and nodded. "We still need to see you in Adult and Perfect forms. You know, show us what you've got."

"Give her time," Lammon chided, but she was smiling. "She's only just now back in Child form."

The children watched this exchange carry out, somewhat amused. Any conversation was short lived, as there was no member of those assembled that wasn't horrifically exhausted- and moreover, they couldn't shake the feeling that there was something bad set to happen - or had already happened.

Rafikmon took it upon himself to find a small cave a short walk away- really, just a single chamber in the side of a rock-face wall, but protection from the elements nonetheless. After extinguishing their fire the group trekked towards and into it, and very nearly collapsed immediately once settled in.  
>Perhaps amusingly, many of the humans made a point of getting as close to Rafikmon in the little cave as they could, and their digimon followed suit- the giant primate's body heat was nothing to shirk.<p>

In a sort of cloudy haze, the little pack of resistance fighters drifted to sleep.

* * *

><p>The morning came with the sun rising, imbuing heat back into the world around the little cavern... and with the dawn breaking, so broke a sound that was uncomfortably familiar to Luke and Sampamon- and it sounded like it was coming from right outside.<p>

"Wakey-wakey, ya load of freeloaders!"

"Wait here. Whatever you do, don't show yourselves," Rafikmon hissed quietly. Following that, he barely gave notice to the kids as he suddenly darted out of the cave on all fours, his jaw set. The kids could only hear "What do you want!" the monkey demanded, audibly pounding his fists into the ground.

The snide voice returned- it sounded like it was coming from above, perhaps as though if the speaker were standing on the top of the face in which the little cavern was situated. "Ah, monkey! Good. You'd know. Me and my _friends_ - alright, coworkers, I hate them all - have heard some rather unpleasant news! Though, y'can see, it's just _me_ today, so you're in luck." This was followed by a terrible giggle.

"See, we've heard you've been giving harbor to the brats. Again. You're on strike two, Raffy-baby. ... Though maybe it should be all the way up to three, last time it was just one, after all... and now you've got a full set! And been hiding them for two weeks, tsk-tsk."

"What on earth is going on out there?" Emily whispered, frowning deeply. The mocking tone of the invisible-to-the-group speaker set them all on edge, and the words themselves...

There was a soft thud, a light "pmf" as the mystery speaker leapt from his perch. "Again, you're lucky it's just me. Were the puppy-dog here, you'd be an egg as we speak... and just between you and me, the little puffball ain't too smart." Pause. "Stay there."

With that, there was suddenly a loud noise, the sound of a scuffle and something heavy hitting the wall, followed by a dark shape appearing at the mouth of the cave. He was illuminated only from behind, but he was tallish, and gangly, and wore a coat that his thin body didn't fill out in the slightest. Rusty wing-like attachments sprang forth from his shoulder-blades, and huge gloves covered thin forearms. There was a hat on his head, and the strangest bird-like face could barely be made out in the darkness, red eyes like pinpricks shining out.  
>"Why, I feel like I'm meeting celebrity," he sneered.<p>

As if on cue, the kids' D-GEARs began to chirp- not that they were listening.

_Epidemon. Mega-level demon man digimon. A digimon consumed by bitterness and hate, it causes chaos and fear wherever it goes. Able to move silently in the darkness, it attacks using deadly viruses with attacks like Bad Air and Contagion._

The digimon before them mimed wiping away a tear. "It _understands_ me." With a giggle, he peered in at the kids and their digimon - who were almost frozen in place. "In case you missed the memo, my name's Epidemon, and I'll be your host this morning!"

"Let me guess," Rajamon mumbled, his eyes narrowing. "You're with Era."

"Among the finest," the strange digimon said with a bow. "How'd you guess? Oh, wait, is it that three-fourths of the digital world serve Lord Era?"

"I'm really starting to hate this guy, yeom," Delfinimon said deadpan; Epidemon's red eyes focused on the dolphin. Though they couldn't see his face clearly, they could almost tell he was smiling.

"Good." His eyes then swivelled to focus on Luke, and he giggled again. "Long time no see."

"Shut up," the newest human member of the team mumbled.

"Oh, but _Forbidramon_," and the word was said like poisoned honey, "_you_ had the highest rate of kills per day. Even more than Javermon. That's nothing to laugh at." And yet Epidemon was laughing, barely containing his giggles- not least of all because Luke and Sampamon were both looking pointedly uncomfortable, growing more so by the second.

"Today, on 'things that aren't as funny as you seem to think they are'," Faris mumbled quietly.

"It's not _my_ problem that _your_ sense of humor sucks, buddy-boy," Epidemon sneered, smiling- he knew full well to whom he was speaking, the holder of the Virtue of Humor. "Now don't worry, kiddos. I'm not here to kill you," and he paused here, "though I'd have no problem were I to. Both in that I wouldn't mind it for a moment and it'd be easy. _I'm_ just here to tell you something. ... two things."

"And what would that be," Simon mumbled, clenching his fists- hating the sense of helplessness they were stuck in. A small area, an enemy of what he could only presume was even a higher level than Perfect... And moreover, they still couldn't see their foe clearly, his back to the light. One almost got the impression he was doing this for the dramatics.

"First is this!" Epidemon suddenly walked away- just momentarily. Before the kids could return, he walked back into their sight and holding a barely-conscious Rafikmon by the throat. "Don't screw with the forces of Lord Era, kids."  
>He clenched his hand tight, and with a burst of light the blue monkey dissolved into data. An egg fell to the ground, and he left it there.<p>

"Don't you d-" Andrea snarled out, gritting her teeth- and again, Epidemon laughed.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to absorb it." And again, he looked pointedly at Sampamon and Luke. "_That's_ below even _me_. Really, buddy, you _did_ know that even the rest of us thought that was pretty low-down of you?"

"Shut up!" Luke blurted again, this time joined by Sampamon yelling the same simultaneously.

"Oh, but it's so much _fun_," Epidemon taunted.

"You've got issues! **Ocean Blast**!" Kamomon squawked out, opening his mouth to blast a high-pressure water jet at Epidemon. It didn't seem to be conscious, more just of a reflex to the foes' insufferable personality.

Perhaps to be expected, it was as though Epidemon had been hit by a drop of water- he felt perhaps mildly annoyed, but no damage was done. "And the second is this, and I feel this is a good time to say it," Epidemon continued.  
>"Feel free to quit now," he sneered. "Before you drag more digimon into your fight. Digimon that could live if you hadn't forced them to harbor and help you. Lord Era's plan is already in motion, after all. My, ah, co-workers are on the job as we speak. Retreat now and you - well, the humans, at least - will live."<br>Pause.  
>"Not that you pig-headed kids are going to heed a word I say, after all."<p>

With speed not predicted from his gaunt form, the still-silhouetted Epidemon took off into the steadily-lightening morning, and was gone.

To the general surprise of most, Andrea was the first to step forward to pick up what was once Rafikmon's egg. "... if we see the loony in a cat hoodie," (she meant Deekamon) "like he said we would, we can give this to him. Probably not the best idea to just leave it around."

It was hard to argue with that.

Slowly, apprehensively, the kids started walking- taking out their D-GEARs to guide them. Indeed, the proxy entrance wasn't far, as the map showed... but it was a bit of a walk full of trepidation. It was quiet, with little in the way of commentary.

"You knew him?" Lammon said after a while, with as much tact as she could muster, looking at Luke and Sampamon. Luke stayed focused ahead; Sampamon, on his shoulders, nodded.

"He's... one of three. Lo-" Sampamon shook her head, stopping herself. Old habits died hard, and she was just about to refer to Era with a 'Lord' prefix. "Era referred to them as the Reapers. They're... dangerous."

"Understatement," Luke mumbled. "They're his highest-ranking officers. Mega-level. I've never seen them get a scratch on them."

"They're just trying to waste our time," Iguamon said suddenly from further ahead, completely decisively.

Julian concurred, expanding on his partner's thought: "If they're that dangerous... then there's no way they're not just trying to stall for something else."


	28. Chapter 28:Those Chosen by the Sovereign

_Author's Notes: ... hey this is overdue, and this is crazy, but here's my excuse, so forgive me maybe? ... I feel like a worse person now. But no, seriously, life got to me... lots of stuff going on, but I should be able to update on-schedule again. Cross your fingers! don't worry, I will _never_ abandon this. And watch, I'll even update on-time next week, the "I won't give up" won't be my death like it is for so many fics~ Onwards!_

* * *

><p>"Oh, <em>wow<em>," Simon let slip.

When the kids reached what their D-GEARs proclaimed to be the proxy area, they were expecting another cave.  
>What they were <em>not<em> expecting was a sheer drop into a cloudy abyss, followed by an ear-splitting keening sound. With a great commotion, there rose a digimon, tremendous in size. It was humanoid in form, but its wings spread out behind it, its hands at feet like talons and its body decorated with tribal markings. From under a painted mask that covered a beaked face, its blond hair drifted in the wind except where it was tied into braids.

Dwarfing the size of every child and digimon present, it was decidedly for the better that he did not land, but flapped he great wings and looked down at the group. "I am Garudamon. Are you friend or foe to the Sovereign?" he boomed in a deep voice, eyes focused on the group, his gaze seeming to burrow straight into them.

Egakumon was the first, naturally, to speak, and the rabbit said decisively: "Friend!"  
>This was followed by a deep rumble, but no movement on Garudamon's part.<p>

"Of course- anyone could say as such, be they honest or... well, be they Epidemon or Era.

Kamomon, then, being a bird, suddenly kicked into the air, flapping his wings madly to keep at the right height. What he said was unclear to the observers on the ground, but Garudamon seemed to take heed of the smaller avian. The great bird-man nodded his head to look down, and indeed- the kids, who were still using their D-GEAR units for navigation purposes, had the devices in plain sight. The seagull almost fell back to the ground, and indeed he sort of _flump_ed into Emily's arms.

"Hard to talk and 'tread air' at the same time," Kamomon chuckled a bit dizzily.

Garudamon then bowed his head and cupped his hands, lowering them to the level of the ground the group stood on. While admittedly it wasn't exactly the mode of transport any of them - not even the digimon - would ever imagine themselves utilizing... A few moments later, it was a reality.

Riding in the hands of a giant bird monster was a surprisingly relatively smooth way to travel. It seemed that a few of the number - particularly Egakumon, but Toby was in close second - seemed like they'd much rather be keeping their feet on solid ground.

"Someone tell me when we get to... wherever we're going," Egakumon groaned, covering his eyes with his hands.

"Didn't know you were afraid of heights. The great rabbit warrior," ribbed Delfinimon, her tailfin flopping happily as she peered over Garudamon's claws. She then blinked a couple times, and chuckled nervously. "Though I wouldn't mind setting foot-"

"You don't have feet," reminded Faris almost automatically.

"... on solid ground again, yeom."

As time worse on, they were almost unimaginably high, the ground they had left behind a faint blur through the thin clouds. The tingling that always accompanied an area change washed over them - presumably to allow them to breathe in the ever-thinning air. The higher they went, the more surreal it felt.

"Almost feels like we're just flying on our own," Emily mumbled, reclining. "I always wanted to fly."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," Kamomon said, but smiled. "What with the air pressure and the arm-exertion."

"Ah, can it," the bird's partner replied with a smile, looking out into the distance- and then raising her eyebrows. "Oh, wow."  
>That was really the operative phrase of the day- and it was as good a phrase as any. As human and digimon alike turned to see what had elicited the remark, it was echoed (with some level of variation) throughout the group.<p>

If any of the kids had been asked, prior to their being whisked away to the Digital World, to imagine a kind of phantasmagorical world, the sight before them would slot right in.

Floating in the air, seemingly completely unsupported, was an almost unimaginably vast city of ruins and relics. At various parts, it definitely evoked images of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, while at others it brought Mesoamerican structures to mind- and other things almost impossible to pin down. All of it was supported by a layer of ground,as though a huge chunk of the earth had simply been ripped out and hung in the air- and on its underside, a huge portion bottom of the gargantuan structure was covered by a blue crystalline pyramid, glowing bright and impossible to see into- in fact, it broguht to mind distinct images of Wisemon's castle below the ocean.

"Wow," Toby mumbled, the three-letter word accurately summing up how his fellows and teammates felt.

In Garudamon's hands they rose higher before lowering down on the very edge- it felt like they were on a roller coaster, having spent so very much time rising up and then suddenly descending, even a bit.

* * *

><p>"Not a lot of time."<p>

"I'm not particularly worried."

"Hm."

* * *

><p>It took a few minutes before the kids and their partners were at level with the ground, Garudamon beating his gigantic wings as though it were nothing to keep in place. He put his hands to the floating land, allowing his passengers to file off- a bit woozily, not exactly in an orderly fashion, but in good enough time.<p>

"We thank you for your, ah, assistance!" Lammon called up to the bird, who merely nodded his head once in acknowledgement, looking down at the little sheep.

"It is the duty of a servant of the Sovereign," he rumbled. The giant bird-man wavered in the air, bobbing up and down for a moment, before suddenly he spread his wings and began to fly away. The gathered group suddenly appreciated a lot more how fast they had been moving - and for how far - when, before too long, Garudamon was fading away into the clouds, barely visible.

"The question is," Delfinimon remarked, as they began to walk carefully down the road, "what we're supposed to do when we wanna leave, yeom."

"Jump and hope for the best?" Faris replied, casting a look at Kamomon. He chuckled. "Uh, doesn't count for you. That'd be cheating."

They took a look around them, soaking in all they could see- for the first time, it felt like they were in... a real city of sorts. True, there had been the lovely locale back near the Great Ocean but that had seemed more like a ghost-town- both for how lively it seemed (... while they were ducking through alleyways with a dog and a cat), and for how many digimon were around.  
>The buildings were old and made of stone and growing over with vines and mosses, but for the first time, it felt like they were in the Digimon equivilent of a real-world city- with no trace of Era influence.<p>

"For, like, the fifth time, it feels like we've stepped into another world within another world," Emily said, chipper as ever.

"It's definitely different," Andrea (still holding fast to Rafikmon's digitama, mind) mumbled, looking around herself. Digimon were stopping to look and stare, whispering amongst themselves, and it was making her more than a mite uncomfortable. Her brow twitched imperceptibly.

They were near at the end of what could have been a great main-street- it was a huge, wide path, buildings lining either side, but with enough room down the middle of the path for the group of fourteen to pass relatively comfortably. It was Egakumon who spoke next, and immediately broke any and all of the little team out of their reveries.  
>"Who votes we find food?"<p>

It was with a sort of unpleasant pang that they realized how long it had actually been since they had last eaten- not even counting the melarky involving time dilation.  
>The answer was "too long".<p>

Food had never been quite so glorious a thing.

It was actually - for a change - considerably varied in what, food-wise, was available to them. Stalls and carts and stands, oh my- the group in general dedicated themselves to staying within the general area of one another, though their D-GEAR units (as Toby and Luke both pointed out) did have the tracking feature to keep them all in order. Simon and Faris together began a "real sandwiches, hallelujah" chant that was audible even over the noise of the crowd, and no matter what the kids themselves were partaking in, they couldn't help but echo the sentiment.  
>The Digimon themselves were almost lost- in a world full of fantastic imagery, the only thing that struck them dumb was the food. As it had turned out, the digimon had never really eaten much outside of terrafruit- when Iguamon were introduced to real meat, Egakumon swore never to forget the uncharacteristic level of surprise and happiness on the dinosaur's face.<p>

All around them as they ate, digimon stopped and pointed and whispered- it wasn't hard to imagine what they were talking about in hushed tones. It was even less surprising when a small digimon, small and orange and fuzzy, with a big blade on its head (wasn't that the same thing as they saw back in Piximon's village- Tsunomon?) began bouncing up and down and yelping about "oh dear Sovereign, it's them!"

"Looks like we're getting to be a bit celebrity," Lammon remarked modestly, smiling gently at the small digimon.

"Of course you are," Sampamon replied to the sheep, and a similar expression was on her face. This was only furthered by the insistence of the digimon running the eating establishments that their bills were completely waived- just as well, since nobody in the party had any means of payment (though Faris suggested a rousing song and dance routine in the event that they had to pay- an idea that got summarily shot down before he even got the thought out).

It was in the middle of their rather unceremonious stuffing of their gobs that a most curious thing chose to occur.

That is to say: each of the seven D-GEAR units' screens lit up, and the units themselves began to shake violently. The non-partner digimon patrons of the restauraunts and stalls at which the kids and their partners were scattered stopped to look on in awe, some taking steps backwards away as the kids grabbed at the plastic devices to inspect them.

It was suddenly very easy to determine where each of them was, the light shining like a beacon through the crowds.

It felt as though the little plastic devices were set to explode.

"The heck is going on!"

"Aw, man, why you gotta be interrupting the one time we actually get to eat, yeom..."

"What's with the freaky light show?"

With a scramble and a shuffle, the group stumbled towards eachother, convening right smack-dab in the middle of the street; their digivices were showing no signs of letting up, and in fact only seemed to grow more intense with time. It reached a peak, and then... there was a voice. It seemed to come from nowhere, but rang in the ears of the children and their partners... and seemingly no-one else. It was deep, the kind of voice that shook the earth, the kind of voice that demanded respect.

_I see you've made it, children._

Toby opened his mouth- perhaps he was going to say something, ask what was going on, but the noise would not come out. It died before it left his throat, some otherworldly force holding the sound back.

_It would be unwise to speak- simply heed my words. I must be brief- as must you. You will be given a signal- only those that have been chosen will be able to see it. Follow it. It will lead you to me._

And then... just as suddenly as it had come, the voice was gone, petered away into the air as the light began to fade away from the D-GEAR units. Or rather, more accurately, the light seeped out of the D-GEAR units, into the air in shining tendrils. They began to coalesce, until a white shape - nondescript, almost alien, featureless - roughly the size of the child-level digimon, was standing in front of them.

The humans were confused.

The digimon were in awe.

"What on earth is going on?" Andrea said, no small amount of irritation seeping into her voice; however, even Rajamon stayed silence, staring at the white being. Other digimon, milling around the street, walked straight through it as though it were not there.  
>The shape turned and began to run away, as swift as the wind. Without a second of hesitation, those digimon on the ground began to run after it- Sampamon, around Luke's shoulders, slid to the ground like a liquid and went to follow her companions.<p>

"An explanation'd be nice!" Simon yelled, as he and the other humans took off after their partners with some trepidation. Egakumon turned, and was actually running backwards as he said, almost breathlessly:

"The Sovereign!"

As the group chased the shining white figure, digimon walking in the street had to duck out of the way lest they be bulldozed by the ragtag band of fourteen misfits and would-be heroes. It was hard to keep pace with their own digimon, let alone the white thing - whatever it was - that ran effortlessly, not touching the ground, moving like it didn't belong to any world the children were familiar with. That said? Even the digimon were starting to get stitches in their sides by the time the thing stopped, having led them almost all the way down the main-street. It stood at the base of a structure, looking expectantly at those trying to follow it.

"Didn't know digimon architects took design cues from South American temples," Julian remarked dryly, but he was right- it looked to be a dead-ringer for something ambiguously Mesoamerican, layers upon layers of stone laid to create a vast pyramid. Huge carved figures stuck out, with art carved into the stone, all of a stylized dragon-like image. An entirely-too-long, entirely-too-steep series of steps led up the side; the white figure indicated it with its head for the children to go up.

"Gimme a second or two, here," Rajamon huffed, almost bowing his head into the dirt to try and catch his breath.

"Maybe, someday, we'll actually be able to run like this without doubling over," Emily mused, almost - in fact - doubled over, her hands on her knees. To absolutely nobody's surprise, the only people that were raring to go were Simon and Egakumon- in fact, it seemed as though the little bunny might _burst_ if they didn't get a move on.

"Come on, guys!" Egakumon yelped, waving his arms as though to indicate... something. It wasn't clear.

"Uhm, you're gonna have to give us a minute?" Toby said meekly, pulling at the gathered hood of his sweatshirt like he was pulling at a shirt-collar, in order to let some of the heat out.

And so Egakumon might just have to burst. Two against twelve were lopsided odds, and the majority pointedly wanted to stay put for the time being.. The white figure sat down, waiting patiently.

"Ugh, fine. Geeze, lazy, much. Give me a recap, here," Simon said, resigning himself to having to kill time- he was adamantly denying that he was even the slightest bit worn out, standing tall and upright. "What are these... Sovereign things?"

Iguamon, predictably, was the one to respond. "Something like deities. They protect the Digital World. It's through their will that Yggdrasil act, and from Yggdrasil that they draw their power." He sounded as though he were reciting by rote.

"They're the ones who chose you, and created us," Lammon piped up, nudging her head against Toby's side.

A question was silently brewing in Andrea's mind, but she chose not to voice it; instead, she turned to the others. "So are we going to get a move on it?" She jerked her head towards the stairs, and a sort of mutual groan rippled through the group. Nobody (sans Simon and Egakumon) was particularly excited to begin climbing.

It looked as though they had no choice, though, as as soon as the word was given, the white figure began its ascent up the stairs. They'd have to make do with what little rest they had gotten, and followed.

The Sovereign.  
>Contacting the kids.<p>

This... was probably on the important side. Even so, the expanse of stairs? Not fun to try and climb up quickly. The amount of tripping and falling flat on faces will go unsaid, for the dignity of all involved, but it didn't expedite the process any.  
>When the group (most of them stumbling, breathing-heavy messes) reached the top, they were standing at what seemed to be... a small stone hut, only perhaps ten feet in each direction, dark inside.<p>

"We came up here for this?" Rajamon couldn't stop himself from remarking, a bit incredulous. He reared his head back, lip pulled back. As though in answer, the white figure walked through the door- and dissolved into light as it crossed the threshold. A film of sorts formed over the space in the door, shimmering and almost impossibly thin, reflecting light in every colour. Though it seemed to be transparent, a careful look would reveal that, behind the shimmering shifting light moving across the surface, the interior... was suddenly much darker than it was before. A strange feeling of weight and importance seemed to seep into the air.

"... something tells me we've got some magic mojo going on here," Faris said with a wiggle of his fingers in the direction of the door.

"The sovereigns must have several layers of protection," Sampamon provided, though she tilted her head at the barrier, and looked up at Luke as though for a comment. "It's kind of like...?"

"Can't imagine it was fun to slither up stairs," Luke said simply, picking the snake up; she promptly slithered onto his shoulders. Then, and only then, he looked to the others in the group- and noted that they had followed his partner's gaze, and were looking at him.

He sighed. "It's... Era uses the same kind of thing. Or, I assume it's the same kind of thing. You can't just get in. Something has to trigger it to... send you to the right place." Brief pause. "I'm kind of not eager to be the Era authority, here."

"You know more than any of us," Andrea said, nonchalant and matter-of-fact.

"It's a valuable asset!" Simon said, grinning- Luke gave him a flat look in return, his eyebrows raised. Simon was undeterred, and turned to look at the door. "So. Last one in, yadda yadda?" He looked at Egakumon, who gave him a thumbs-up, and that was enough for them. Rabbit and boy stepped through the film of light; the film-like substance warped around them to accommodate, and then they were lost to view. But not to ear.

"Oh, dude!" both yelled in near-tandem, their voices having no small amount of awe lacing the words.

"Guess that's as good a sign as any," Kamomon said, a bit apprehensively, fluffing his feathers up a little bit. He indicated with one wing-hand, looking up at his partner. "After you, Emily?" As he said so, Andrea and Rajamon went through the door- he gave an indignant little squawk; Emily giggled her amusement at this, and they followed suit.

One or two at a time, the children and their digimon crossed through the door, and almost every one at least gasped (the exceptions of course being Julian and Iguamon- but their eyes still widened momentarily).

On the other side, they appeared to be standing on nothing, afloat in a vast sea of empty void, blue and indigo swirling together like smoke against a backdrop that was black as pitch. Any form of portal back outside was nowhere to be found- the only thing they could be sure of was themselves, and possibly the invisible something they were standing on. Lammon was gingerly scratching a hoof at the not-quite-ground while Rajamon reared up onto his hind legs and fell back onto his forepaws, looking down skeptically.

It was painfully quiet, only the distant roar of what sounded like more water than existed, rushing furiously far away. The digimon were dumb-stricken all; even Rajamon's ears were flipped down in a sort of submissive gesture. Fourteen pairs of eyes looked around in the silence; it seemed like speaking would break some unstated rule; even breathing seemed to be too loud.

Even to the humans, it felt like there was an unimaginable amount of power.

It began slow, but shot to full force with no time wasted.  
>It felt as though the entire world was shaking, falling apart around them. Digimon and children alike threw up their hands to cover their heads, just in case- even Sampamon curled herself to cover her head with the tip and plume of her tail. It seemed to last forever, the rushing sound growing louder to the point where it was almost deafening.<p>

The kids weren't watching, their hands thrown up and their eyes closed. Suddenly, the rushing sound snapped to a stop, like someone had hit the mute button; the only sound was the sound once again far away in the distance, and seven digimon voices whispering in near-tandem.

"Oh, my god."

Their voices were soaked with reverence, awe- respect.

When the kids looked, it took a lot of effort for some of them (all of them) to not blurt something out without thinking. For a moment, the digimon in front of them was so huge that it was hard to register that it was a digimon at all. It was tremendous on a level that dwarfed everything they had seen thus far, and likely most things they _would_ see. It didn't seem possible that more digimon of this calibre could exist.

It was difficult to tell, then, much about its appearance- but an attempt could be made. A blue mask comprised its face, decorated with electricity designs in bright yellow; four red eyes peered out from under the mask. A long white beard and mustache affixed to the front, and a jagged, almost crystalline horn protruded from the middle of its face. The rest of its body was like a Chinese dragon comprised only of semi-transparent blue energy, crackling like lightning, with four clawed legs and numerous (superficially feathered) wings forming from the electricity-like substance. An expanse of chain was coiled around its body, and around each "wrist" of its legs, a total of twelve (three per limb) tremendous blue orbs - digicores the likes of which the group had never seen - floated.

If it felt like there was a powerful presence before, it paled in comparison to now.

The voice in their minds came back, booming and powerful and _loud_- Faris and Delfinimon instinctively snapped their hands to their ears (what? Dolphins have ears). It did nothing to quiet the sound, loud and commanding, speaking slow and clear.

_I appear to you only as a projection. For creatures such as you to approach a Sovereign, it would risk your integrity, and would leave our position around the Great Tree compromisable- and neither I nor the other Sovereign feel that these are risks worth taking at this time._

What was there to say to that? There was a brief, weighty pause, and the giant creature moved its four-eyed gaze between each of the pairs of partners. The digimon were all but frozen to their spots- Sampamon curled a bit tighter around Luke's neck, and Lammon shuffled closer to Toby, and all seven digimon wore expressions of awe- and they were mirrored in various degrees on their partners' faces. Simon and Egakumon were both nearly slack-jawed; Andrea set her jaw and Rajamon was trying to appear more confident than he was (with little success). Why, even Andrea held the egg that was once Rafikmon a little bit closer, just out of reflex.

_I am Azulongmon, the Protector and Sovereign of the East,_ it boomed, likely for the benefit of the children (Egakumon mouthed along to 'Sovereign of the East'). _You are welcomed to this temple, children and digimon of Virtue._ His eyes flicked to the side, before he continued. _I can only imagine you are wondering why you have been summoned._

It was just as well that the tremendous dragon-like digimon seemed to know what was on the children's minds - though that question was obvious enough - as it felt as though anything they could possibly say would die in their throats well before it was articulated. Luke managed to nod once, and that was about the extent of it; it was enough.

_You, children, have been chosen by the Sovereign, procured through the Core Tree Yggdrasil, to protect our world. And you, digimon, have been created by the same, for the same. If it has come to this, your wellbeing and the wellbeing of this world are interwoven. The man who calls himself Era is putting his final plans into motion; the threat to you, to us, to this world, is beyond what you can imagine, what __you have ever known._

There was a weighty pause.

_We fear that we may have acted too late. Our connection with the Tree is being compromised- a direct link being forced open. Data is being stolen from the Tree faster than it is returning._ Luke and Sampamon, almost in sync, averted their eyes and looked pointedly at Luke's feet, until Azulongmon continued: _We do not blame any of your number. As things are now, it should not pose a problem provided you act with haste. However, the very real possibility of what shall happen should you not move quickly enough has forced us to take more drastic measures; this is why you have been summoned to me here._

"Come to think, you still haven't let me in on the plan, either, Azuzu," said a voice from behind them suddenly, familiar and friendly and-

"Deekamon!" A chorus of more than fully half of the kids and digimon (to wit: everyone that wasn't Simon, Egakumon, Luke, or Sampamon) blurted, and Egakumon only because he was somehow struck even dumber than he was. Indeed, having materialized - somehow - about five behind the backmost member of the group (Julian and his dinosaur partner, for the records), the purple cat hoodie and big cheshire-cat grin were unmistakable.  
>He was standing there like this was normal, folding his arms and looking up at the giant dragon, yellow eyes unblinking. Momentarily, he looked at the group.<p>

"Heyo, kiddos! Told you we'd meet again."

_As subtle an entrance as is your wont._ Hold up, did he actually sound kind of amused? _But it is, I would suppose, for the best that you're present. Chosen,_ and all seven children, all seven digimon, can feel the red eyes boring into them, _In the event that it becomes necessary, _

"May we ask what it, uh, entails?" Toby piped up uncertainly- to those who registered it, it was a shock, as he was the first to speak (not counting the blurt of 'deekamon') out of the group since Azulongmon's appearance.

_A roundabout way for you, Digimon, to reach your greatest strength, should you become unable to the way that the other Sovereigns and I have set forth in your code._ That was... cryptic.

"Plan B, huh," Deekamon murmured from behind- he sounded pensive, thoughtful.

"Like... what would necessitate that?" Iguamon said, quietly, trying to read Azulongmon's inscrutable face.

_You will know. Pray that it does not come to it._

Which meant it would. If it were a big enough concern that they were doing something about it preemptively...  
>Any more thought was cut short by an ear-splitting roar, Azulongmon actually opening his mouth and loosing the noise. It <em>hurt<em>, even with hands clamped over ears, and suddenly things (namely, Azulongmon- he was technically a thing, right?) got very bright.  
>They were getting used to things going up in lights and then breaking apart to be absorbed into things, and this was no exception- when the light reached painful levels, the light erupted from Azulongmon's body and collided straight into the kids and their digimon- perhaps it was aiming for their D-GEAR units, but the pillars of light were entirely overkill, able to completely engulf the group. Deekamon leapt back, drifting back down to the ground, watching carefully.<p>

There was a pause as the light began to dissipate, and then:

"Tingly." An apt appraisal on Faris' part.

"This should turn out interesting," Deekamon mused from behind- it wasn't comforting, but he had the same lilt in his voice as ever.

_Fates willing, it won't come to it,_ Azulongmon reiterated evenly, _but for that to be feasible, you Chosen must make haste. From here, travel to the one known as Era's base in the Barren Lands, as you were told before. One of you knows the way._

"I really don't want to be the Era consultant if it can be helped," Luke mumbled, almost imperceptible to his teammates but not going unnoticed by the dragon; however, the Sovereign did not comment.

_You are dismissed. It is a goodly distance from here, and I cannot help you reach it faster. If you would stay, Deekamon?_

Almost like that, the world around them began to ripple and shake and fall apart. Deekamon, stepping towards Azulongmon, tossed a grin (as though he could make any other visible expression- but it felt as though underneath the fabric grin that stretched across the bottom of his hood, he was smiling beneath. "Wait for me. This'll only take a tick."

And with a rushing noise, the kids and their partners were standing in the small figure atop the temple, no longer in the otherworldly void- it was as though they had simply walked through the door, no magic, no portal.

Almost as soon as they got their bearings, there was a loud noise from outside- like something breaking. Simon and Emily were the first to the door, and so peered out- far below them, down on the street, was a tremendous dark shape; it was hard to make out, but what was clear was that just about everything in its path was getting decimated.

"You know, I'm starting to think we should stop having conversations with digimon who know more than us, yeom," Delfinimon pointed out. "Every time we do, something gets broken in the meantime."

"Hm," Andrea mumbled, but stretched one arm above her head (the other still holding Rafikmon's digitama close). "Well, I've been looking for something to relieve a little stress on. C'mon, Rajamon," she said, casually as anything, and just like that, tiger and girl took off down the stairs.

"Y'know, I'm actually on-board with this idea," Faris said suddenly, after a moment of silence, and with that he picked Delfinimon up into his arms (she gave a little dolphin-squeak) and took off down, surprisingly sure-footed even throwing himself down the stairs.  
>Before there was even a moment to spare, Julian silently followed after, calmly, not rushing at all, with Iguamon close behind; he was quickly overtaken by Simon and Egakumon, hurtling down the stairs like cannonballs.<p>

"I'm not even surprised," Emily said cheerfully, looking over her shoulder. Toby, Sampamon, Lammon were still looking over their shoulders into the little structure; Luke was doing the same, shifting a bit on his feet.

"I'm sure Deekamon will find us, he always manages to," Kamomon offered, "if that's what's holding you up."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah," Toby said, shaking his head out of thought. "I just-"

"We're not ones to run right into battle, you could say," Lammon offered, smiling faintly. "You can go ahead."

Emily put her hands on her hips, but smiled and nodded. "See you guys at the bottom." And with that, the next pair began their descent from on high (such as it were).

There was a moment of silence.

"It always seems like something's bothering you," Toby said after a moment, and it took Luke a moment to register that he was being spoken to. The older of the two lifted a hand to gently stroke the gem on his digimon partner's head before-

He smiled faintly, but said nothing, and moved toward the stairs.

There was a brief moment of silence, before Lammon looked up at Toby, who wore a frown on his face. "It will come with time."  
>Momentary pause, as the little sheep began to walk towards the stairs.<p>

"Even if we have to force it into his head with blunt force, it will come," she said, in her calm, quiet, usual tone of voice, and Toby couldn't suppress the laugh that came out.


	29. Chapter 29: Free Falling

_A/N: What can I say about late updates that I haven't said before? Ah, well. Here you go! Excuse lateness. Next week should (SHOULD) be on-time, but you know how it gets... yeah! Peace out._

* * *

><p>At the bottom of the stairs...<p>

Things were a lot worse than they looked like from above. Carts were overturned and crushed; some of the solid stone buildings looked as though something very large and heavy had hit them and caused parts to crumble. Digimon had cleared out of the main street, making the seven kids and their partners standing almost alone in the dust at the bottom.

_Almost_ was the key word, because there was a key figure that needed to be included. ... but... it seemed smaller than the shape they had seen from above. Vastly so. Hadn't what they seen tearing up the town - so to speak - been... a lot bigger?

That is not to say it was unimposing.

Standing a good eight feet tall, twenty feet away, was a humanoid digimon. Its face was half-covered by a metal mask that gave the appearance of a dog's muzzle, while large pointed ears and a shaggy mane of dark steel-blue hair completed the _ensemble_. Most of its body was covered in fine steel-blue fur, with lighter patches on its face and torso; a spiked belt was wrapped around one shoulder, a matching collar around his neck, while a red cape was tied around the other. As far as clothing went, it was wearing tattered black pants, and what seemed to be elbow-length gloves with tremendous metal claws at the ends; these were fastened at various places with brown belts. One more belt was around its waist, studded and with a buckle in the shape of a dog's head. Its feet were huge, clawed viciously, and a whiplike tail swayed almost boredly behind. A red W-like marking adorned its chest and legs.

"I think I revise my position as a 'dog person'," Simon couldn't stop himself from remarking, before his - and everyone elses' - D-GEARs units once again began their run-down.

_Javermon. Mega-level demon man digimon. Renowned as one of the greatest trackers in the digital world, this virus strain of Javermon has none of the morality of its data counterpart. Its Blood Oath attack can tear through Chrome Digizoid, and its Justice Reaper takes no prisoners._

"Oh joy," Rajamon said, his eyelids drooping. "Another Mega."

"We're hosed," summarized Andrea, completely deadpan.

"You guys really need to learn to be a bit more optimistic," Emily said, more off-handed than anything, but her body was as tense as any of the others.  
>And yet...<p>

A pleased expression formed on the new digimon's face, all sharp teeth and glinting eyes, and then... he turned his back, his red cape flowing with his movement. He was completely unconcerned with the group, it seemed- it was imperceptible from the distance, but the dog-like digimon nodded once. Two dark shapes - one tall and lanky, vaguely familiar, the other small and compact- suddenly erupted from hiding-spots on either side of the street, and blasted their way past the kids and up the stairs. It was hard to catch, but the fluttering cape and metallic wings, from behind, betrayed the taller shape as Epidemon- Rafikmon's digitama, in Andrea's arms, shook just slightly.

A second later, some of the kids and their digimon were torn- some were moving to go up the stairs, some were lunging forward to confront Javermon, and a couple were stuck in the middle of the group and were being jostled this way and that.  
>The confusion was not helped when they suddenly heard a terrible screeching caw from above, and... a dark shape (Epidemon) passed overhead, as though knocked backwards... and followed by a familiar fluttering purple shape, smashing one clawed hand into his midsection.<p>

And then Javermon was gone. ... or, not gone. Moved.  
>He leapt into the air, over the kids, and smashed back down to earth between them and the steps of the temple, his face impassive once more.<p>

"Now's your chance to get out of our business," he offered, sounding almost _bored_. The group turned to look at them- in the ground behind them, there was a thudding sound and a huge cloud of dust as Epidemon and Deekamon smashed into the ground. His lip curled into a smile, and he looked over at the digimon that hit ground. "Or if you're content to continue being pawns to the sovereign like your friend, be my guest. It makes no difference to us at this point."

There was suddenly a sound like a thousand bombs going off, louder than the rush that had been inside the temple- louder than anything the kids could imagine, and the ground underneath them began to shake violently. Heck, they might have been thrown into the air a few inches with every tremor, and Kamomon was quick to jump into the air and flapped his wings frantically to keep steady in the air.  
>In the mess, it was easy to miss the small dark shape passing overhead, but it was impossible to miss it when it landed next to Javermon, something blindingly bright clutched in its claw.<p>

"We're done here," the dog-man said, nonchalantly, almost inaudible over the rumble, and as if on cue Epidemon suddenly leapt away from Deekamon. (Deekamon, for his part, was struggling to maintain upright with his mostly-substanceless body.) The bird-like man leapt nonchalantly over the kids, landing alongside what were presumably his two compatriots. Something black rushed past, and then... the three digimon were gone.  
>And they were gone.<p>

But the rumbling and the sound held strong.

"Deekamon! What's going on!?" Egakumon yelled over to Deekamon, cupping his paws over his mouth, but surprisingly enough, Simon grabbed one of his hands and began to pull.

"C'mon!"

Luke and Sampamon stared for a moment at the place where the three digimon had stood, but were quick to follow.

It wasn't hard to see why they were in a hurry to move away- pieces of the temple were starting to break off and tumble down the sloped sides, landing with a crash entirely too close for comfort. Taking off down the street, the further they got from the temple the gentler the rumbling was. For a given value of "gentler", of course- it was still boneshaking, and from buildings on all sides Digimon were running out in panic, trying to determine what to do.  
>The kids came to a stop, gathering in a small empty lot; Deekamon brought up the back.<p>

"Wh-what's going on!?" Toby spluttered out.

"Well, I'd say we're shaking," Faris replied in a deadpan, and as if by karma, was suddenly bowled over by the combination of a sudden tremor and a digimon rushing by. "Not a word."

"Wasn't gonna say anything, yeom," Delfinimon provided, looking terribly amused.

"This isn't helping us figure out what's going on," Iguamon said, his voice even, but his eyes narrowed as he looked around. "So if anyone-"

"Were I you, I'd find a way out of here as soon as possible," Deekamon said, cutting the dinosaur off. There was a moment of silence. There was none of the usual tone in Deekamon's voice- he sounded positively sober.

Julian broke it. "Why?"

Deekamon fixed him with a hard stare. "Because we happen to be falling out of the sky at a frankly alarming rate?"

* * *

><p>To one not in the know, it would be odd to see Javermon kneeling in the presence of a single somewhat-gangly middle-aged man, but it was a moment of incredible solemnity between the two. Epidemon and the third digimon were nowhere to be found- elsewhere. Wherever they were was unimportant.<br>Era flicked his wrist, and the glowing orb in Javermon's hand floated up; the canine-like man hissed in relief, drawing his hand back as though it had been burning him- in fact, it had been eating through his data. It began to replenish itself as soon as it was taken away, but his hand was greatly deteriorated for a moment.

"Impressive," the man murmured, very barely audible; with a twitch of his finger, it was as though he were turning the orb over in his hand. Javermon smirked, an expression that faded away immediately when Era's eyes were on him again. "Though you realize now that they'll be on to you. I won't be providing my..." a gesture of his hands, "transportation services from here on out. That alone almost depleted it. Weaker core than before..."  
>He spoke almost as though the digimon weren't in front of him, quietly and to himself, before turning on Javermon again.<br>"And of course, I have my own things to use it for. You're hardly my first priority."

"Of course, Lord Era," Javermon said almost as an automatic response. "This leaves four, correct?"

A curl of Era's lip. "Don't play dumb. It won't win you any favors from me. Yes, of course it's four, you _absolutely useless packet of_-"  
>A deep breath, and a disarming smile replaced his expression of disdain.<br>"Yes. Four. You and the other two just need to stay one step ahead and everything should work out wonderfully. You can go."

Javermon touched his fist to his chest in salute, and then with a swirl of his cape he was walking out and into the darkness.

Era again twitched his hand to turn the orb over in his hand, and there was a _nasty_ glint of mirth in his eyes as the light reflected off it.  
>Fantastic. At this rate, even if those bumbling idiots managed to flub up every single one and cost weeks of time, he should be in the clear.<p>

But for now, he had no small amount of work to do.

* * *

><p>What followed Deekamon's announcement could be charitably described as a mass freak-out.<p>

"The heck are we supposed to do!?" Andrea snapped, almost dropping Rafikmon's digitama thanks to the effects of yet another violent shake, planting her feet firmly on the ground in retaliation.

"Panic?" Kamomon provided a bit shakily, leaning against Emily for stability, but almost _together_ Simon and Luke cut in.

Both said almost exactly the same thing, but their inflection was thoroughly different.

"No!" Simon blurted, clenching his fists in determination. "There's no way we can just leave!"

"No," Luke said, quiet and unassertive, more matter-of-fact than a bold declaration. "We can't just leave."

"You got some freaky wonder-twin thing going on here, don't you? I totally want in" Faris can't help but say, sarcastic and maybe even a bit uneasy. There was a tremor, and he probably expected to be thrown to the ground again by karmic forces, so he quickly followed it up with a "sorry!".

Emily tilted her head, worrying her lip a bit. "So... what? Form an evacuation party?"

Deekamon said nothing for a moment. "I could try to convince you not to, that we need you to make a break for it, but-"

"No way!" Egakumon piped up, and Deekamon gestured to the rabbit and laughed.

"But I rest my case."

It took a few minutes to get organized- they split into three teams. Simon, Egakumon, Andrea, and Rajamon formed one; Emily, Kamomon, Faris, Delfinimon, Toby, and Lammon were the second; this of course left only Julian, Iguamon, Luke, and Sampamon to the last; they were sent to try and gather digimon to get them to where they arrived, where Deekamon would be gathering as many flying digimon as he can muster.  
>The "teams" took off in three directions- one up (or, down- away from the temple) the main street, and then one in each direct perpendicular to it.<p>

For all three teams, trying to make sense of anything was nearly impossible; digimon were running this way and that, steadfastly refusing to listen through the haze of panic. The tremors were getting worse- and it was easy to feel that they were dropping faster.

* * *

><p>"This is <em>so<em> many kinds of not working," Rajamon mumbled, placing a paw to his forehead to rub at the spot where a small digimon, in a panic, smacked him upside the head with a wooden sword- with a loud _smack_, Egakumon was bowled backwards by the same, and he clamped his claws over his smarting nose.

"Totally uncalled for, Kotemon!" the rabbit groaned.

The digimon before them (Kotemon, if Egakumon was to be believed) was dressed in full kendo gear, with only its purplish reptillian legs and tail bared; its yellow eyes were slanted, and it brandished its wooden sword again. "Back off!"

"We're _trying_ to- hey!" Simon yelped, barely avoiding being smacked in the shins by leaping backwards and almost smashing into Andrea.

This kind of thing went on for a while.

That's not to say they were a total flop- the majority of Digimon were quick to listen (especially when shown the digivices- it was like a free ticket for respect sometimes). It just the matter of a few... stubborn types.

And of course, it wasn't to say that the others were having a terrific amount of success either- though the periodic dark shapes moving across the sky towards where the group had landed indicated that Deekamon was doing well enough for himself. Some digimon actually _listened_ when prompted to follow the flying digimon.

The pair that were having the most luck? Julian and Luke (with their respective partners)- possibly helped by the fact that neither of the two humans was saying much to the other (Luke out of his modest personality, and Julian out of his laconic one- it didn't _seem_ to be hostile), and spoke very matter-of-factly to the digimon, allowing them to act fairly efficiently.

* * *

><p>The rumbling was only growing worse by the time they had gathered as many as they could. Some digimon steadfastedly refused to move, no matter what was said or done. (Andrea and Rajamon had to physically drag Simon and Egakumon away from more than one.)<p>

At the designated 'meeting' place, the harried kids and their equally harried partners stood back, sticking to the edges of the clearing-like area at the edge. It was, honestly, an impressive sight- digimon that could fly hovering in the sky behind Deekamon. Deekamon himself was at the forefront, yelling instruction, while more ground-bound digimon looked ahead, absorbing every word the purple hoodie-wearing digimon was crying out.

It was Lammon who spoke up first, some time into Deekamon's presentation of sorts; it was hard to hear her over the clamor, but the way she jerked her head caught attention immediately. She peered over her shoulder, back into the buildings and the city proper:  
>"Do you hear something?"<p>

"Aside from the yelling, y'mean?" Faris provided, but he furrowed his brow.

"Not that I can tell," Emily said, frowning a bit. Even so, the digimon... disagreed. They all prickled up, those with fur or feathers having it stand up. Egakumon sniffed at the air, and Iguamon twitched his tail just so.  
>To the kids, it was considerably disconcerting to watch their partners get agitated about seemingly nothing. Thankfully (or, not), they had a reason very soon.<p>

The sound of crumbling building was a loud one.

It seemed to come from nowhere... but it was huge and hard to miss. Made of bone - why was every other bad that happened to them made of bone? - and with a too-large tail that was easily knocking structures down, it was formidable. It was like a tremendous scorpion, hunched over and with its claws in the air; parts of its body were accented with black, while the bottom parts of its claws - as well as the four "legs" not covered by its hind legs and claws - were a stained wine-red. Yellow eyes peered out from inky black, and a third - what might have been a mark, or a third eye - was nestled in its forehead. Its bony tail was curled above its head, lashing out this way and that, and tipped with an entirely-too-large silvery blade.  
>That would have been enough. What made this worse, however, was that in its wake, there were beams of light shooting into the air - as digimon were forced back into their digitama states.<p>

Oh, lovely.

The digimon listening to Deekamon suddenly started to panic - understandably enough - but almost immediately, Deekamon leapt over the crowd. He landed near the kids.

"I'm gonna trust you guys can take care of that and get off the island before we crash, yeah?" He was speaking quicker than usual, yellow eyes flitting from kid to kid.

"No problem," Simon said, though... the last part, the getting off the island, might be a problem. The same thought crossed the others' minds; Deekamon waited for a moment, but as each kid nodded, followed by their digimon doing the same, he nodded right back.

Before he suddenly plucked the digitama of what-was-once-Rafikmon straight out of Andrea's arms. "I'll take this," the purple hoodie-wearing digimon said, matter-of-factly. "He's a friend. I owe him much." Before anyone could ask further, he bowed his head. "I'll see you on the ground." He suddenly turned, and yelled one word:

"GO!"

As the huge digimon of bone drew nearer to them - it was thankfully slow - Deekamon managed to herd the digimon closer to the edge. Flying digimon took on as many passengers as they could; there wasn't time to look, though.  
>More pressing matters at hand.<p>

"Let's kick this thing into next week," Rajamon mumbled, stretching his paws out.

A series of flashes of light later, and where six child-level digimon had stood moments before, were now six adult-levels; Baghamon turned to look at Sampamon, still curled around Luke's shoulders, and smirked a bit. The snake looked right back- this was, after all, the first time she had seen all of her teammates in Adult form.

It had been quite a bit since they had actually fought together; Julian took the opportunity to quickly formulate a battle-plan.

"It's large enough that it shouldn't be a problem for most of you to get the drop on it," he said, though he seemed like he was biting something back. "Shokunimon, Kaizokumon-" The two most-humanoid of the digimon turned their attentions.

"Yeah?"

"Aye?"

"Jump up and go for the head," the oldest of the children said decisively. "The rest of you try to throw it off-balance or attack where you can at the feet- spread out so it can't get you all at once. I'm going to hazard a guess and say you should probably stay away from the tail."

"Thank you for that wonderful piece of advice, yeom," Shayumon chuckled, but nodded her head; this was punctuated by another building crumbling, and a deep tremor throughout the ground.  
>That was cue enough for the digimon to turn and go.<p>

Sampamon stayed curled on Luke's shoulders, looking ahead but remaining silent.  
>There was only a momentary pause- the humans were prepared to follow their partners (and, logically, Luke would follow them, as his partner was still with them), but Julian stood still, and that was enough to give the others pause.<p>

"You've got something on your mind," Toby said.  
>There was another brief pause; Julian began to walk forward before he spoke.<p>

"Our D-GEARs didn't go off."

Sampamon's eyes narrowed.

* * *

><p>The giant bone digimon stopped in its tracks when the partner digimon rushed forward to meet it. Like twin pinballs, Shokunimon and Kaizokumon bounded off the ground and onto the tops of the closest buildings that were not-yet-demolished, one on either side of the side-street they were on, drawing their respective weapons before they even touched foot on the buildings.<p>

"**Paint Blast**!"

"**Flintlock Shock**!"

Both the glob of paint and the glowing bullet were blocked by the larger digimon moving its claws - one per attack - into the line of fire, stopping them handily before they reached anywhere vital. As it did so, it was greeted with a raptor and a shark at either of its legs.

"**Fast Strike**!" Velocimon snarled, bone meeting bone as he smashed head-first into his enemy's left leg.

"**Wavebreak Crash**!" Shayumon cried, a powerful stream of water propelling her body with concussive force into the other limb.

It was more than a little discouraging that, like their teammates before them, this seemed to have almost no effect. They quickly removed themselves - as quickly as possible - from the range of the digimon's tail. Just in time, too- where Shayumon was a moment before, the blade of its tail was sinking into and cracking the cobblestone road.

Ariamon moved next; with a yell of "**Smokescreen**!" she threw herself past the scorpion, her misty body emitting a heavy cloud of smoke. This caused the hostile digimon to hiss low, the smoke obscuring its vision and burning its eyes- not doing much more than cosmetic damage, true, but it set up the next.

Baghamon growled low and deep in his chest, throwing his body forward, deftly weaving around the tail-blade embedded in the ground. ... or so it seemed. The tiger actually bounded his way _on_ to the giant scorpion's tail, scrambling up it as quickly as he could manage. He couldn't get far, but before the tail began to wrench out of the earth, he yelled:

"**Tiger Gem**!"  
>Aiming directly at its chest, the jewel on Baghamon's necklace began to glow and subsequently fired off energy that flickered like fire, and immediately leapt off. The scorpion gave a low bellow - maybe that had actually done something?<p>

In a low, sinister hiss, the big digimon let loose an attack:  
>"<strong>Black Out<strong>...!"  
>And from its mouth poured a black fog that, as it spilled out, completely stained the air- it was dark as pitch to those caught in the cloud. IE, all six of the digimon in combat.<p>

"Where are you guy- WHOA!" Shokunimon's voice yelped, followed by an undiginified thud as he fell off of the building he was perched on. The digimon stumbled over eachother, trying to avoid the skeleton scorpion by sound alone- they were avoiding being hit, it would seem, but were really lacking in the "dignity" part.

The kids were almost tempted to rush forward to help their partners - maybe trigger a digivolution to Perfect - before they realized that... Luke had vanished, Sampamon in tow.

"That kid really has a thing for hide and seek, doesn't he," Faris remarked.

* * *

><p>About the same time that the group noticed they were gone, Luke heaved himself - Sampamon on his shoulders - up and onto the roof of a building a short distance away from the battle. Sampamon had led him correctly. Back turned to the boy and snake, the unmistakable form of Magoriamon stood, hands on his hips, watching his handiwork.<p>

"Seems it's a lot more solid this time around, doesn't it?" Magoriamon said cheerfully, not turning around. "Really, one of my better pieces." He then turned, his yellow eyes flicking over Luke and Sampamon as the snake slithered to the ground - or, roof, while the painted-on eyes on his mask bored ahead.

"Only one," Magoriamon tsked, tapping his chin. "And you can't even reach _adult_ yet, can you? Man, and I thought I'd actually have some fun." He sounded genuinely disappointed, and turned his back. "I'm going to watch the fun one."

Sampamon sighed deeply, now down on the ground. She looked up at Luke, who shrugged one shoulder and gingerly unclipped his digivice. "Worth a shot," the snake decided, closing her eyes. She had done it before, after all. It... had just been a while. And, really, she just... hadn't tried, right?

It took a few seconds of pained silence. Luke barely breathed, and a hundred negative thoughts had the chance to flit through his mind. Sampamon, however, seemed completely serene.

Nearly ten seconds passed, with only the shouting of the remaining evacuees and the sounds of her teammates doing batle to provide a soundtrack. Completely unseen by either Luke or Sampamon, Magoriamon began to smirk underneath his mask.

Then, Sampamon - and the D-GEAR unit - began to glow.  
>She might have smirked a bit, herself.<p>

"Sampamon, kickstart digivolve to... **Serpemon**!"

Magoriamon wheeled around again. "Adult! How quaint." He spread his hands wide, and began to draw closer.

Serpemon didn't wait; she opened her mouth: "**Spectral Blast**!" For a split second, everything went grey- then, a black blast of energy fired out of the snake's mouth, and smashed into Magoriamon dead in the center of his chest.

Let it be known that Magoriamon, while a powerful illusionist and a perfect-level, was a bit lacking in the durability department. While it was far from defeating him, it sent the imp digimon tumbling head over heels into the dust on the ground.

And that was enough- because the skeleton scorpion digimon flickered. It was enough to suddenly wipe away the effects of its attack, granting the digimon sight once more.

And they could plainly see and hear the impact of Magoriamon onto the ground, not far away- and above that, a much larger black snake on the rooftop.

On said rooftop, Luke looked at the serpent, and he couldn't contain a smile. Serpemon bowed her head and Luke placed a hand on the gem set in the middle of her forehead.

"Oh, lookie," Andrea deadpanned, back with the group. "Who's that clown?"  
>That was right- out of the group, it was only Simon, Luke, and their partners that had really been conscious to see Magoriamon as the digimon gathered near their parnters.<p>

"... you remember the whole smoky guy? Yeah. Him," Shokunimon growled, bounding his way over, paintbrush gripped tight. "Great."

"I could have sworn we took care of him..." Simon mumbled.

It was Andrea who said, "obviously not."

"Shokunimon, Baghamon," Veocimon said suddenly, narrowing his eyes, "you two keep our... friend," and he looked at the skeleton monster, "at bay. Distract it." The rabbit and tiger exchanged looks, but nodded- without a word, they bounded back to the skeleton. Andrea and Simon, likewise, exchanged looks and followed after their partners. You know. Just in case.

"The rest of us... I think newbie might need our help, yeom," Shayumon said.

"Friend in need, et cetera, et cetera, aye?" Kaizokumon chuckled, waving in the air with one hand, but then pounded his fist into his open palm.  
>And with that, the remaining digimon and their human partners made way over towards where Magoriamon was currently lying on the ground.<p>

When they got there, Ariamon called up:  
>"Congratulations, Sampamon!"<p>

"Serpemon," the snake corrected gently, but she couldn't keep a smile off her face. "Thank you. There are more pressing matters."

Magoriamon growled, pushing himself to his feet. "Oh, come on. Four against one, this isn't even fair," the imp said, twirling smoke around his fingers.

"You work with Era," Velocimon said, decisively. "Fair isn't exactly how you play, so why should we?"

"Correction!" Magoiramon said, putting his hands up palm-out, and there was that ever-indignant tone in his voice underneath the omnipresent sarcasm. "I work with _Epidemon_, who works under Lord Era. Lord Era's got nothin' to do with _me_. ... but you're right about playin' fair. **Drowsy Smo-** ow!"

He had been trying to use his little digression as a distraction; it got soundly derailed by Ariamon vanishing and immediately phasing in in front of him and smashing her skull into his abdomen.

The ground began to shake even more violently. Serpemon and Luke stayed on the roof above, even as the shaking threatened to throw them off, staying quiet.

Magoriamon was stumbling a bit as he tried to stand - whether from the attacks and his own relatively weak stature, or from the shaking, was up to debate - but he snickered. "So, hey... not my problem, yeah? See you later. ... Probably not."  
>There was almost something sad in his voice.<br>Almost.

And with that, once more, he was gone in a puff of mist. Up and gone. Immediately, the sound of battle died down behind them, as - presumably - the illusion digimon vanished alongside its maker.

"Like trying to catch fog with your hands," Luke couldn't help but remark, massaging his temples.

"I am getting _incredibly_ sick of not getting any answers out of anyone," Julian mumbled, mimicking Luke's action.

"I think we all are," Toby ventured quietly, Ariamon looking to the sky.

"We're about to hit ground," she said, frowning deeply.

"I'm gonna say now is am-scray time!" Simon yelped as he and his partner stumbled back into the group; Andrea had the sense to arrive in a bit more style, riding on Baghamon's back.  
>And then there was another rumbling sound, though this one was... not quite the same as the shaking of the earth.<p>

"Do you require assistance?" boomed the voice of Garudamon, as the bird-man digimon of imposing stature flapped his great wings just off the edge of the clearing they had arrived in- from which all the evacuees had left.

"Garudamon!" Emily and Kaizokumon yelped together; the group stumbled their way back over, and indeed, Garudamon was there, wings beating to keep himself afloat and hands cupped for passengers.

Almost immediately, the digimon returned to their child forms - even Kaizokumon and Shokunimon, who would clearly be small enough to ride as they were, but it was a matter of habit. They shambled their way quickly towards the giant bird, and wasted no time in "boarding", so to speak.

"Why are you still here? I mean- didn't you have to evacuate the others?" Toby asked, looking up at the bird. The great beast's eyes swiveled to look, and he nodded his huge head.

"I am duty-bound to serve the Sovereign and those in high standing with them. The purple-hoodied one instructed me to carry only you."

There were so many questions left to be asked- as Julian had said, they were getting almost no answers. Everyone they met seemed to be causing more questions than they were solving- and it seemed like they were making negative progress, if the falling island was anything to look at.  
>But as Garudamon kicked off the ground, and the kids realized that they could see the earth below them - not far at all, considering the island's (thankfully, rather slow - relatively) rate of descent.<br>At least they could be grateful for this much, for now.


	30. Chapter 30: Swamp Gases

_A/N: Sorry sorry sorry about the lateness yet again... holy crap, re:GEN is almost a year old! I'll try to get its next ep out ON FREAKING TIME in honor of it. Har har, that'll work. P:_

* * *

><p>"I can't be the only one who's sick of all this cryptic crap, am I?" Julian said in low tones to Faris, as the group sat on Garudamon's hands for the descent. It was still a ways down to ground, but even being able to see the falling island, sinking ever closer to the earth... they wanted to be far away, and so Garudamon was taking care to put distance between them and it. The sun was sinking down behind them along with the island, the sky a flurry of pink and orange, and the multiple moons were starting to rise.<p>

"How do you mean, broski?" Faris asked, putting a hand on Delfinimon's head next to him. Iguamon, on the other side of Julian, inclined his head to show he was listening.

"Nobody's _telling us_ anything," Julian replied, frowning. "I'm getting a bit sick of just running wherever Deekamon tells us to, in hopes that something happens. The Sovereign guy just basically told us _we'd know what to do_. Deekamon never explains a freakin' thing. Era's lackeys are delighting in being completely cryptic."

"... and Newbie probably knows more than he's gonna let on. Understandable, I guess, but..." Faris sighed, sitting back a bit and casting a look over at Luke, who was looking off into the sky on the other side of Garudamon's cupped hands. "It's a bit annoying, yeah. I'm sure it'll make sense eventually. I mean, we're running around with talking monster-things, that_ still_ doesn't make sense to me."

"I'm getting sick of it," Julian said, shrugging and sitting back as well. "Someone owes me an explanation before I run off to play hero too much longer."

"Time will tell," Iguamon said, bowing his head.

"Yeah, tell us jack squat, probably, yeom."

"You are _so_ not helping," Faris mumbled, smirking.

Meanwhile, the other kids seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, peering into the distance. Emily had her legs drawn up against her chest, and she let loose a little huff.

"Kamomon?"

"Yes?" the bird said, scootching a bit closer to his partner.

"Does it feel like we're actually making any progress?" she said, leaning on one hand. When her avian partner gave her a sort of quizzical look and tilt of his head (in that way that only birds can), she elaborated. "It... hmm. Well, I donno. It just feels like wherever we go, Era's always one step ahead of us, y'know?"

Kamomon paused to consider. "I've not noticed."

She smiled a bit. "I don't see how, though. I donno. It's just a bit discouraging, y'know?"

The bird bowed his head. "I know. I just know we're going to figure a way around it! Virtue Warriors and all that. Chosen by the Sovereigns, even! It'll work out."  
>Emily smiled again and nodded once.<p>

The remainder of the trip down to ground was quiet- they put as much distance between themselves and the vast abyss into which the island would crash as possible.  
>They heard a fantastically loud rumble, so intense it even shook the air and made Garudamon waver.<p>

Toby was the first to crane his neck to see; the others followed suit.

The island had hit- and immediately went up in a supernova of bright white light, data swirling around every structure until it was blinding to look at. With a rushing sound - like they had heard in Azulongmon's temple? - light shot into the sky just like when a digimon was defeated, only a hundred thousand - a hundred million - times more so, more data surging into the sky.  
>And then, it was over. Beyond the cliffs... the remains. It seemed that the pyramid-like crystalline structure they had seen on the underside of the island was, in truth, a diamond - an octahedral structure - of impressive size. The bright light that had emitted from it when it was intact with the island had faded, and its colour was dull, but it glowed faintly as it sunk slowly into the cloudy abyss.<p>

"It returns to the Tree. The data of the area returns to the branches; its core, to the trunk," Garudamon said, unbidden. "It, like all things, will be made anew someday."

Well, _that_ was nice and cryptic.

They were flying over an area they hadn't seen before- Garudamon seemed prepared to land here. Overgrown with foliage, both woody and herbacious, and saturated with water, it appeared to be a swamp- and indeed, that's what it was.

When Garudamon landed, his great talons digging into the vegetation that covered even the dry land, insect and amphibious digimon dove into the trees to hide. The sun had sunk below the horizon by now, causing the temperature to drop; however, it was humid enough on the ground that it didn't seem that cold would be an object. There was an expanse of shallow water before them, and thick trees behind.

"This is the Overgrown Swamp," the large digimon informed them, speaking lower than usual. "It is as far as I can bring you- I am not of it, nor do I wish to be. It is an Area under _his_ control," and by 'his', just by the tone in his voice, it was clear he meant Era, "so I give my caution; but it is where the purple one told me to bring you."

"Thanks for that," Simon said, no trace of irony or sarcasm in his voice; he gave Garudamon a thumbs-up, and Egakumon copied the motion. "We, uh, probably would not be fit to do much if not for your... transportation services." A general murmur of thanks and assent rippled through the group.

Garudamon bowed his head and brought one hand to his chest. "I am a servant of the Sovereign. It is my duty and my honor to serve you, especially in their stead. I wish you luck. The Digital World will be in your debt."  
>And with that (and an incredible amount of leaves, sticks, and general decaying vegetable matter dug up by his talons), Garudamon knelt and leapt into the air.<p>

And then it went quiet, save for the chirping of insects and the croaking of frogs as his shape vanished into the sky. They watched Garudamon's form grow smaller and smaller, until they could see it no more.

Simon (as ever) was the first to speak up, tugging on his hat. "We should pro'lly find a place to hunker down, yeah?" He had already started walking- away from the water and towards the trees behind them; Egakumon was hot on his heels, of course.

"It would make sense," Iguamon offered evenly, and Julian nodded along, tight-lipped.

"And be quiet," Toby added, looking around and flinching slightly. It was dark and damp and one could almost feel the presence of digimon watching them - digimon whose status as friend or foe was impossible to discern.

They walked around for a short while- it was getting hard to see before long, forcing them to come to a stop lest they get separated (or stumble into water). The poor part: they couldn't find any place that seemed particularly sheltered. Once they reached a (relatively) dry spot, they were forced to stop.

"Who's ready to get eaten by a gator in our sleep?" Faris said entirely too cheerfully after they had settled down. It was half-sheltered by thick plant life, but it was dark- the only light was that reflected by the moons overhead; it was almost hard to see one another beyond vague dark shapes.

"I volunteer you to be eaten first, yeom," Delfinimon said, smacking her partner lightly with her tail fin and grinning; in return, Faris bopped her on top of the head with a smirk.

Their joking was interrupted by Toby, speaking up (quietly, of course): "Who's going to keep watch first?" It was a valid question- it was hostile land, and they weren't exactly in the safest of places. It was quiet for a moment; Julian was about to speak up, as was Andrea, but in the end it was in fact...

"We will," Sampamon said, before anyone else. She spoke matter-of-factly, her eyes closed. Luke nodded his head wordlessly.

Though a few shuffled their feet a bit, Simon gave a big thumbs up. "Sounds good. Wake me and bunny-boy up when you get tired, we'll take over."

That was that.

* * *

><p>It was a good deal later on in the night, Luke and Sampamon still up on guard duty. It was quiet - mostly - and tranquil - mostly. In the distance there was the croaking of frogs and the creaking of bugs, and Luke could almost swear that he had heard music from somewhere far away. Occasionally, beams of bright light would shoot into the sky into the distance- Digimon being defeated. It was never an easy sight- the stomaches of both boy and snake never quite sat right for a while after each ray split the night. They were a while yet from needing to switch out on 'shift', so to speak, but aside from the events in the distance, the night was mercifully uneventful. Sampamon was draped lazily over the branch, while Luke sat with his back against the trunk.<p>

In a moment of silence, Sampamon looked up at her partner. He looked back at her, and let loose a sigh.  
>"You don't suppose that what he's doing is-" he began, and his heart sank when the snake bowed her head.<p>

"I do," she said, solemn- a trace of worry was in her voice. "Do you think we should tell them?" she said, then, looking down at where the others slept.

Luke frowned deeply. "Yeah. If it's... it's important. I just don't know how we're supposed to say, oh, hey, and by the way, Era is trying to _kill the Sovereigns_ to-" he sighed, cutting off. "And we _helped_. That's gonna go over great."

Sampamon stayed silent for a moment, before shifting forward and nuzzling her head against Luke's leg. "We did. But no longer. You know that some of them will still take our side." She looked up, and smiled faintly. "And we have to lend what knowledge we can."

There was a momentary pause, before Luke smiled back, placing a hand on the gem on his partner's forehead. "How is it you manage to be right so often."

"Practice," she said matter-of-factly; Luke rolled his eyes, barely visible in the dark.

* * *

><p>The sun was a good time past risen; earlier in the night Luke and Sampamon had switched out places for Emily and Kamomon to be on-watch. The light had krept its way over the trees and heated up the swamp, and what traces of music hung in the air were long faded away, only to be replaced by an increased chorus of croaks and chirps.<br>And in one case, a pronounced, loud squawk.  
>Kamomon's wake-up alarm was not, by any stretch of imagination, the most dignified one, but it was effective- the seagull fell backwards out of his perch in a tree, only barely managing to beat his wings hard enough to orient himself before he touched ground.<p>

If that didn't wake up the others, the deafening sound, like a tremendous horn - a short distance away, yes, but loud enough to shake the trees - sure as heck would. Without warning, mere seconds after it brought the kids and their partners to a horrifically rude awakening, the sound died down almost as quickly as it had come, leaving the swamp vastly more still than it had been a moment before.

"It just- all of a sudden!" Kamomon blurted, clearly flustered (and not speaking in full sentences), flapping his wings furiously and gaining a few inches of lift before he plopped back to the ground.

"I'd ask what's going on," Andrea said, mostly to herself, removing her hands from over her ears, "but I already have a hunch."

"Era's lackeys screwing something up. Again, yeom," provided Delfinimon, pushing herself up onto her fins. She looked up to the sky, squinting. "Where was it coming from?"  
>It was hard to tell, admittedly- it had been such an overwhelming sound, it had seemed to come from all directions.<p>

"That way," Iguamon said, pointing one claw through the foliage; through the mass of vegetable matter, there was a shallow, wide body of water; looking close, one could see ripples still disturbing the surface.

And then the sound returned, ear-splitting and deep, and all threw their hands - or paws, or hooves, or wings, such as it was, and in Sampamon's case curling her head under her body - over their ears to protect them. Egakumon even twisted up his big floppy ears with his claws as though it would help. Once more, as quickly as it had come it was gone again, leaving only ringing in their ears.

"Pretty!" Faris remarked, groaning as he removed his hands from his head. "Let's figure out what it is before we go deaf, huh?"

Some slower than others, the group got to their feet and brushed themselves off, and with many a grumble and a moan and preparing to clap their hands to their heads at any moment, they began to push through the brush to the water. It wasn't far by any stretch of the imagination, but the going was slowed significantly by the fact that the ground was damp and the foliage was thick, and thus easy to get caught up in. Faris picked Delfinimon up without even being bid to, scooping the dolphin into his arms and receiving an affectionate bonk on the chin from her bottle-nose.

It opened up almost immediately onto the water, with almost no grace period between the land and the water. True to form, the moment the foliage eased up, Egakumon _didn't_, and proceeded to accidentally lunge forward into the water. It was thankfully shallow, not even enough to submerse him when he laid on his face, but the rabbit was considerably soggier than he was a second before.  
>And then there was a very soggy tiger right alongside him, as Rajamon had likewise not expected the sudden let-up of how difficult it was to move forward.<p>

Kamomon stifled a snicker and even Iguamon cracked a smile as tiger and rabbit both spit out mouthfuls of mud and moss, while Lammon waded in (careful as she could not to get her wool wet) to help drag them out.  
>"I <em>hate<em> water," Rajamon grumbled, the fluffy tuft of fur on his head lying flat and damp. The cat shook himself off while Egakumon shook the water out of and wrung his ears.

Across the water - it was shallow, yes, but wide, and it seemed to be waist-deep (even higher, if using Toby as a measuring unit) at low spots - there was a rustling and the ground shook. It was impossible to see much beyond it, thanks to the thick, tall collection of trees, but it was clear that whatever was going on, it was going on over there.  
>"How are we supposed to get anywhere?" Toby said, frowning a bit and burying his face in his hood. "I- I mean, I don't think any of us are... too excited to go wading."<p>

As if on cue, a pair of what appeared to be crocodiles - or alligators? - drifted by in the water to the group's left, barely eyes and mohawk-like spikes peeking out from under the water. They did nothing, barely even seemed to notice the kids, but the motion was notable enough in the relative still.

Nobody was terribly enthused to go wading, no. Delfinimon and Kamomon could, respectively, swim the distance in a heartbeat or just fly over, but that left not much in the way for the other five digimon, nor all seven humans; it was starting to look like hoofing it was their only option. This deliberation only lasted for a few minutes, of course - they were not the sort to stand around and hem and haw for too long- but it was still a stagnant couple of minutes.

The monotony was broken spectacularly when, out of the water like a little blue bullet, a digimon sprang with a mighty splash, flailing as it travelled in an arc through the air, and collided straight with Luke's chest.

The boy gave a surprised yelp, throwing up his arms to hold the digimon in place, while Sampamon reflexively curled tighter around his shoulders protectively. He stumbled backwards a few steps, while the rest of the team tensed, ready to leap into action if they had to do so.  
>After a moment, the excitable digimon ceased its writhing and clawing at Luke's clothing, and allowed them to get a good look at it. Its eyes were round and big black pupils looked up; its forelegs were developed, with three clawed fingers each; its hind legs were vestigial at best. A fish-like tail twitched on its end- no, not fish-like. Tadpole-like. It was like a tadpole just beginning to grow up, except... the size of a basketball, and blue.<p>

And it looked up at Luke and Sampamon like it was completely oblivious to how it ended up where it had.

"Uh. Hi?" Faris said from close to Luke's side, blinking a couple times.

"Who are you!?" the tadpole snapped, beginning to writhe anew. Due to reflex or whatever else, Luke held fast. "You're with _him_, aren't you!? We don't want you here!"

"Aaand any suspicions of Era are once again proved correct, I'm assuming," Julian remarked dryly. "Why am I not surprised." The tadpole furrowed its brow, looking scrutinizingly up at the human boy who was holding him (instead of the one who had spoken).

"You're not with _him_?" the amphibian said, a bit skeptically.

Egakumon grinned. "The exact opposite, matter of fact."

There was a moment of pause, before the tadpole made a small noise. "Let me down," it said; Luke looked to the others. Simon shrugged, Andrea gave a 'heck if I know' expression. After another second, he set the tadpole down on the damp ground. Almost instantly, it hurled itself back into the water, and it was quiet again.

Only for a minute, though.

Before they had any chance to comment, the ground on the other side of the water was alive, a dozen and a half more tadpoles, accompanied by dozen bipedal, green, somewhat frog-like creatures with curled brass horns attached to their necks. All of them peered over at the group suspiciously, hiding half in the water, behind trees, in amongst the cat-tails and bulrushes and reeds.

As quickly as they appeared, the new digimon suddenly ducked into hiding again as the blasting noise rang out again, louder than ever (though possibly just due to proximity). It made the trees shake and the water ripple once more, and shook the kids and their digimon partners to the very core; it was very nearly unbearable.  
>Once the noise died again, the amphibian digimon peered out again, scrutinizing.<p>

"They look like Gekomon - the green ones, I mean," provided Lammon, quietly. "I'm assuming the others are Otamamon."

"Hi!" Emily was the first to speak loud enough for those on the other bank to hear, and even though her ears were still ringing she waved a friendly hand.

"Who are you?" croaked a voice from the other side.

"A motley crew of misfits, losers, geeks, and the occasional trans-dimensional hero," said Faris, more to himself than anything, and was unsurprised (and in fact grinned) when he got an elbow in the rib from his brother.

"The Virtue Warriors!" Egakumon said over the top of the wisecracking human, brandishing his brush like a blade, and Simon grinned, placing a hand on the rabbit's head.

"Heroes what do nothing!" the croaking voice replied in short order, and the speaker stepped forward; she was one of the green digimon - Gekomon - and she was holding a knobby wooden staff that looked too big for her.

What?

"What?" Simon said, faltering visibly. He adjusted his hat, out of nervousness more than anything else. "Uh, care to explain that?"

"We see the Ruins fall yesterday!" the amphibian said, and she smacked the water with the staff; though the splash could not have reached the kids in any way, shape, or form, it still made an impressive clapping sound. "What heroes can't stop Era? He make the island fall, then his cronies comes here and turns our leader-"

The Gekomon was on a roll, but she was interrupted by the bellowing noise and the sound of stomping.  
>"No heroes to us!" she continued the moment she could be heard again.<p>

"Fantastic," Iguamon said, even of tone, but clearly less than amused. ... less than usual, at any rate.

"What can we do to prove ourselves to you?" Julian said, suddenly, putting his hands in his pockets - ever the quick thinker. He didn't sound pleading or anything other than completely confident, his face almost impassive.

"Whatever we have to do!" Kamomon chimed in, hopping up into the air and flapping his wings hard to stay aloft.

The response that they got was not an encouraging one: the leader (or so she seemed to be) smacked her staff onto the water again, glaring. "Gets out! Gets away!" The Otamamon and the other Gekomon around her joined in a chorus, hitting their feet against the ground and croaking to show their distaste.  
>They were once more drowned out by the painfully loud sound- was it becoming more frequent?<p>

Yeah. Definitely.

And its source was suddenly much clearer to see as it stumbled into view.

"They mentioned a leader?" Delfinimon mumbled, looking up and cringing a bit. "Money says that's it, yeom."

It was big. It was red. It looked really, really irate.  
>It was an oversized version of the Gekomon; bigger and much much more... round. Twin brass horns curled out of its back, and a ruff of what looked like leaves were around its neck. Two bandages were criss-crossed over a protruding navel, and mustache-like protrusions (Antennae? Whiskers?) twitched on its face. What almost look liked a fleshy topknot - red, tipped in purple - hung over its decidedly not-aligned eyes.<p>

And the gang of local digimon? They immediately dove into the water with helps, their anger forgotten as they moved in a flurry away, almost covering up the sound of the kids' D-GEARs.

_ShogunGekomon. Perfect-level amphibian digimon. Called The Sleeping Tyrant, it is the leader of all of the Gekomon and Otamamon in its swamp. Though it doesn't use its hands, the Musical Fist blasts from its horns hurt just as badly as any real blow._

Just after that, ShogunGekomon indeed opened his mouth, and bellowed out:

"**Musical Fist**!"

The sound was even more deafening- as it began rumbling out a wordless melody, before a quite visible disturbance of air blasted forth from its horns. It was aimed, it seemed, at the fleeing digimon, judged by how he downturned his head and focused his eyes (as best he could) on the digimon without human partners.

What happened then was rather unexpected to all but the digimon in question and his partner.

With a flash of light, Rajamon grew in size as he stepped forward, teeth bared.  
>"Rajamon, kickstart digivolve to... <strong>Baghamon<strong>!"

He had grown in size at least partially before he kicked off the ground, and his more powerful haunches carried him quite a distance through the air- to the point where he took the brunt of the Perfect-level's attack, sheltering the gekomon and otamamon underneath him. He let out a roar and was knocked backwards, back-first, into the water.

The now incredibly wet tiger tumbled back until he was upright and nearly on the bank near the kids, digging his claws into the sod under the water and breathing through clenched teeth.

"The heck?" Simon mumbled, looking sideways at Andrea- who was not there. The girl had suddenly launched herself forward, clambering onto the back of her soggy partner.

"Well, I'm not gonna be left behind- don't know about you," remarked Kamomon with a sort of faint smile up at Emily. She smiled back, as her D-GEAR began to glow- and like a domino effect, so did five others.

"Kamomon, kickstart digivolve to... **Kaizokumon**!"  
>"<strong>Shokunimon<strong>!"  
>"<strong>Ariamon<strong>!"  
>"<strong>Serpemon<strong>!" (Sampamon, of course, slithered off of her partner's shoulders beforehand.)  
>"<strong>Velocimon<strong>!"  
>"<strong>Shayumon<strong>!"

Those who could - Julian, Faris, and Toby - climbed onto the backs of their partners. Simon, Emily, and Lukas were content to stay where they were.

"Get them to safety," Julian said, as though it were necessary to. "First priority."

With that, the team jerked forwards; Velocimon and Ariamon both waded into the water, while Shayumon - seeming a bit dismayed at how shallow the water was, while Faris clung to her dorsal fins - pulled herself in as Serpemon slithered in alongside her, the snake keeping her head above the water while moving her body below it.  
>The two humanoid Adult-levels (Shokunimon and Kaizokumon) merely reared down and <em>leapt<em>, crossing the most distance the fastest as they threw themselves with powerful jumps, landing smack-dab in the middle of the water, where they immediately began to push forward towards the opposite bank.

It was a flurry of water and shouts as the seven digimon surged ahead, trying to make headway in the water without running into any of the fleeing, flailing amphibians- which was made harder as ShogunGekomon began to trundle forward, sending fresh waves of panic through the Gekomon and Otamamon (and fresh waves through the water, for that matter).

The first of the Gekomon - the one holding the staff - reached the bank where Simon, Emily, and Luke were standing; she let out a few huffed breaths and looked up at the three, but said nothing.

"Can you explain what's going on?" Luke tried, kneeling down so he was more on her level. "I know you're not exactly our biggest fan right now," he said; his tone of voice had become slightly more confident than usual, or at least faux-confident, "but if you can explain it we can try to help."

"No heroes comes to save us when Era crony comes and wakes up our leader!" she croaked, glaring. "Attack digimon all through swamp- new digimon, biggers, Perfect levels and Mega levels not here before. Gone crazies!"

Emily considered for a moment. "It sounds like... Era... ..." she paused, remembering the thought they had had when Forbidramon had force-evolved Rajamon. "Is forcing digimon to higher levels than they should be- they lose control. Using the Virtue he stole."

"That'd explain the lights I kept seeing last night," Luke mumbled. "They must be attacking the digimon around them."

"And then those out of control digimon woke Big Red up on the wrong side of the bed," Simon provided; the Gekomon nodded.

"Ruins falls! Digimon outs of control! No heroes to us!" she repeated, waving her staff around; Luke had to lean back to avoid being smacked in the face. She paused, then, and looked over her shoulder.

In the water, Shokunimon and Kaizokumon had just reached the other shore, and were shaking the water off of themselves; Velocimon and Baghamon were on their heels, while Shayumon, Ariamon, and Serpemon were herding the last of the fleeing digimon (the former two having dropped their human passengers on relatively-dry land).

The Gekomon furrowed her brow, drawing her lips back. She looked back to the trio of humans. "You helps our leader?" she said, questioning, as a flurry of otamamon and gekomon rushed past the small group.

"Absolutely," Emily said, smiling. The amphibian scrutinized the girl's face, before she suddenly turned and smacked her staff into the water to create the slapping noise once more.

"Gekomon! Otamamon! Stays here!" she called out; a flurry of green and blue faces poked out of the trees, listening to her.

From the other side of the water, on the opposite bank, Shokunimon and Kaizokumon had already taken off like shots to help distract the giant digimon, buying their compatriots time. Julian cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled back to the stragglers. "You guys coming?"

At that, Shayumon and Ariamon padded their way up to the three (four, counting the makeshift-leader Gekomon) on the bank. "All aboard, yeom," Shayumon said cheerfully, then looked at the Gekomon. The shark smiled.

"Come on," Luke offered, still kneeling as he turned around; the Gekomon scrambled onto his back, piggyback style, as Simon and Emily both climbed onto Shayumon and grabbed hold of her fins.

"You're like a digimon courier service, Lukey," Simon remarked, grinning, "between this and Sampamon." Luke smiled faintly and rolled his eyes, gently lifting himself onto Ariamon's back.

The sheep and the shark began once more their tredge across the shallow, muddy water; not having to worry about crashing into fleeing digimon made it much quicker going, and before long they were once more alongside their fellow human teammates and the three digimon (Baghamon, Velocimon, and Serpemon) still on the bank.

"No defeats him," the Gekomon said, peering over Luke's shoulder. "Nots bad digimon. Just angry. Just needs to calm him downs."

Julian peered at the green digimon for a moment (possibly biting back a remark about _whatever happened to 'get out'_), before he nodded. Any comment was cut short by the sudden rush of the rabbit and seagull jumping into view alongside their partners.

"Ach, I think we've just made him grumpier," Kaizokumon said, twirling his pistol around a finger.

"What do we have to do to calm him down?" Toby said, moving over to Ariamon's side.

They didn't get an answer to that, as they had to move - very quickly - to avoid a big red webbed foot crashing down, coming through the trees and right into their midst.

"Tiring him out should work," Baghamon provided as he skidded to a stop near Velocimon, Andrea hanging tight to the fur on her partner's back.

"Try not to over-do it," Velocimon said, totally dead-pan, more than a little condescending, and the tiger growled.

"Cram it. Hang on tight, Andrea," Baghamon said; his partner nodded, and as the tiger sprang towards ShogunGekomon again, Andrea's D-GEAR began to glow and vibrate hard.

"Baghamon, virtuous digivolve to... **BurningBaghamon**!"

Andrea hung tight to her partner as he suddenly reared back, smashing his paws into the ground with a yell of "**Burning Earth**!", causing the soggy earth below him - and more importantly, ShogunGekomon to suddenly turn brittle and crack, spewing up flames that caused the amphibian to roar, turning his attention to the big cat.

ShogunGekomon didn't even bellow an attack, merely growled low and deep, creating the deafening noise once more, before he struck out with one webbed hand at the cat. It sent Andrea tumbling off his back as the cat - who, recall, had already been struck by the brunt of the frog's attack before, in a lower stage - flying backwards.

In a mad dash, Velocimon suddenly threw himself forward, scooping Andrea up with his neck before she hit the ground. "Told you not to overdo it," his partner remarked.

"Not a word," Andrea grumbled.

At the same time as this was happening, from behind the giant digimon, two voices cried out.

"Shayumon, virtuous digivolve to... **MetalShayumon**!"  
>"Kaizokumon, virtuous digivolve to... <strong>Ospreymon<strong>!"

The shape of Ospreymon rising over ShogunGekomon's body blotted out a bit of light. When ShogunGekomon roared up at the bird, he released another blast of attack.

"**Musical Fist**!"

In retaliation, Ospreymon keened loud and long, tucking his wings into his body and screeching out: "**Seagull Dive**!" as he smashed, head-first, into the giant amphibian's belly, knocking the big red grump onto his rump. He flew backwards as quickly as he could, opening the door for a second attack from the cyborg shark running in from the side:

"**Seeker Torpedo**, yeom!"

Faris put his hands on his head and groaned. "Oh my god, it's gotten worse, she's putting it on the end of her attacks now." This was overridden by the mechanical whirring of MetalShayumon's chest-plate opening to fire off shark-shaped torpedoes at ShogunGekomon's belly, and the bellowing roar he released in retaliation.

"Well, heck," Shokunimon mumbled from his vantage point, looking at Simon. "I don't wanna be left out of this."

"Word," Simon chuckled, grinning.

* * *

><p>Wearing the big digimon out proved to be... an undertaking, in light terms. Even when all of them (sans Serpemon) had pushed themselves up to Perfect level, it seemed that the big angry frog was just never-ending in his ability to remain torqued off and absorb attacks with his big, rubbery body.<p>

"This is nuts," StarShokunimon growled from his vantage point, holding his sword out as he rode on Ospreymon's back, high above the battle. Triassimon's heads were spewing out flames, Nimbimon was firing beams of light from her orbs, BurningBaghamon was smashing burning paws into the big digimon, MetalShayumon was releasing electric bursts like they were going out of style, and even Serpemon was doing her part with blasts of dark energy... all the while accompanied by a chorus of cheers and encouragement from their human partners, and croaking squawks of "No hurts! No defeats!" from Gekomon.

It didn't seem to be an issue- the big old digimon took their blows like they were nothing. It was almost _ridiculous._

So... it may have been understandable that kids and digimon alike were surprised when, suddenly, ShogunGekomon let out a noise. Not a loud noise, not the bellow they had become used to, but a _strangled_ one, and suddenly fell backwards, his eyes closed tight.

Ospreymon, with his lapine passenger, swooped down to the ground, alongside the rest of the team- had they succeeded? It seemed... too sudden. Nobody had attacked ShogunGekomon the second before he had fallen over.

Something was all kinds of fishy- and they got an answer to what it was very quickly.

"You can stop now," a voice said, calm and quiet; it seemed to come from nowhere, until a swirl of darkness appeared in the air.  
>A shape, wrapped up in webbed wings, drifted slowly down from the air to land on ShogunGekomon's bellly. It was very small, only about two feet in diameter, and it seemed that most of its body was spherical in shape, save for two long legs (arms?) on which it stood, with two smaller feet tucked close to its body, with two curved horns atop its head. ... body.<p>

"Who are you!?" snapped both of Triassimon's heads, but Serpemon and Luke's breath both hitched noticeably.

The small digimon spread his wings, and though he was small, it was hard not to be intimidated- the air seemed to get colder, drier, with his very presence.  
>He was covered in coarse greyish-red fur, with blue-grey skin where the fur didn't cover. A hood-like structure, looking like a monster's head, of black fur curved over his head, while similar black fur was located in ruffs around its wrists. Its wings were black with pale-blue, tattered webbing, with red claws - similar to those on his hands and feet - atop. Its blue eyes were dull, not shining at all, and the gaze was chilling.<p>

The kids' D-GEARs chirped to life.

_PicoDaemon. Mega-level demon demigod digimon. Smaller than its namesake Daemon, but only barely less powerful, PicoDaemon packs a powerful punch for its tiny size. With attacks such as Dark Swarm, Inferno Typhoon, and Cross Nail, it may be small, but it's earned its title as a demon demigod._

"Another Reaper?" Nimbimon said, frowning deep.

PicoDaemon turned his dull eyes on her, but said nothing, before looking to the group again. "You've shown us where you are. Thank you for your he-"

"**Symphony Crusher**!"

With a cry, Gekomon launched herself at PicoDaemon, releasing a high-pitched noise from the horn curled 'round her neck, and striking out with her staff. Perhaps unsurprisingly, but no less disturbingly, PicoDaemon... was not even touched. Before she could reach him, he slashed through the air, hissing:

"**Cross Nail**."

Red whips of energy extended from his claws, and the moment they impacted with Gekomon, she was gone in a flash of light, her digitama tumbling off of ShogunGekomon's belly, her staff clacking after it.

"As I was saying," PicoDaemon said, closing his eyes. "Thank you for your help. **Dark Swarm**!"

He spread his wings wide, and from what almost seemed like within, a swarm of black... insects? flooded, towards the kids and their digimon, blindingly fast. There was a rushing noise, and then...

It went dark.

* * *

><p>When the Digimon came to - as they did so well before their partners - the digimon themselves were... smaller than before. They were back in Baby II form, the same ones their partners had met them in. It was... if it were possible for an environment to be groggy, it was. It seemed as though their surroundings were shimmering or covered in fog, fading in and out. There were sounds, from far away- beeping, rushing, talking, strange music.<p>

"What's going on?" Cindemon mumbled, groaning a bit as he cracked his eyes open.

"I don't know," Plumon replied quietly, looking around with worried eyes.

Before they could orient themselves or try to rouse their human partners, there was the sound of screeching tires and a pair of blinding lights headed straight for them.  
>A car was rushing at them, and within an instant, it was upon them, and...<p>

Phased through human and digimon alike harmlessly.

The small digimon were dumbstruck, but peered around. Tall shapes were walking around, and they could catch glimpses of multicoloured light here and there.

Those shapes looked like humans.

"You guys," Efudemon barely breathed, "I think we're looking at the Real World."


	31. Chapter 31: The World You Left

_A/N: Today, October 8th, commemorates this project's one-year anniversary. Holy crap. Thanks to anyone who reads this crap- as a birthday present to the fic you should totally leave a review. ; D /smacked Okay okay enjoy._

* * *

><p>"How long do we have, sir?" Javermon asked, standing by his lord's side, barely flicking his eyes to look at Era.<p>

"Does it matter?" the human replied, quietly. "It won't be long enough unless you get working."

"This would be so much easier if you'd just let us kill them, si-" and in the middle of his word, Javermon let out a harsh bark, being suddenly thrown on his back by an invisible force.

Era curled his lip; a faint glow faded from the hand he had waved to incur the action. "Don't even entertain the thought. If they die, everything I've worked for is undermined- do you want that on your head, you _snivelling moron_?"  
>As if to punctuate his point, from the tips of Javermon's toes and the tips of his fingers, he began to glow like a defeated digimon. The canine let out something between a snarl and a whimper, shaking his head.<p>

"No, sir!"

Era's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, and the glow faded from the dog's body. "I gave you useless packets of data the power you have. I can take it, and if I have to take it back, then I promise you you will wish for something so painless as deletion." Every word was a hiss, spat out through grit teeth with no attempt to hide the contempt in his voice.

The man took a moment to take a deep breath, and once more re-gained his composure. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Take however many Agents you need. Work together with the other two. It will be more difficult if the channel isn't open like it was with the dragon. Do whatever you have to. Have _fun_."

Javermon only nodded his head, grinning a toothy grin. "Sir, yes, sir."

With a twirl of his cape, Javermon excused himself from Era's throne-room; the man didn't even bother to watch him leave. Once the canine was gone, with a wave of Era's hand, the dark empty room flooded with holographic monitors and keyboards, a flurry of numbers and symbols and outputs and inputs.  
>A flick of his wrist and he had a shining orb in his hand, the same orb that his Reapers had produced from Azulongmon.<p>

He smiled.

* * *

><p>"What are we supposed to do!?" Mismon had <em>completely<em> lost his cool. He was bouncing up and down, flailing his little wings around like the little feathered puffball he was. He was nudging Emily (who, like the other children, was still unconscious) with his beak when he wasn't freaking out.

"Panicking won't do us any good," Fuwamon said gently, nudging the tiny bird with her nose in turn. Even so, she turned her attentions onto Toby, frowning.

"It doesn't look like we're..." Paleomon frowned as well, looking around, "... entirely here. That vehicle didn't seem to touch us at all."

"And I don't think the real world is supposed to be this dark, yeom," Finmon added.

She was right; everything around them was covered by a dense fog, making the outlines of even giant buildings not a stone's throw away seem fuzzy and unclear. Everything felt odd, like they weren't quite on the dimensional level, so to speak... even aside from the fact that they were seven tiny digimon with seven unconscious human partners, with no way to move the latter, in the middle of a street. In danger or not, it was uncomfortable to be in the line of _oncoming cars_.

"Wake up, Si," Efudemon whined, tapping his human partner on the forehead with his big claws.

"Here," Cindemon said, hopping away from Andrea and over to Efudemon and Simon. Efudemon blinked a couple times, but Cindemon circled up to near the boy's head, and casually closed his mouth on a bit of Simon's hat.

The little tiger-puff yanked.

Though he didn't awaken entirely, Simon groaned and lifted his arms up to grab a hold of his hat before Cindemon could pull it off his head.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Paleomon murmured, incredulous.

It might have just been coincidental, however; almost at the exact same time as Simon reacted to the near-theft of his hat, similar half-awake groans escaped the other seven children. Just like that, the other six digimon immediately darted to their respective partner's sides, if they weren't there already.

"I am really getting tired of this passing out and waking up in a new place thing," Andrea remarked, looking up into the foggy grey above all of their heads. She began to sit up, closing her eyes and not looking around herself yet. The others did much the same, sitting up tiredly and trying to gain their physical bearings before looking at their surroundings.

"Where are we?" Toby murmured, rubbing at his eyes and looking around - it was all but totally foreign to him, but Simon let out a:

"Holy _crap_."

The sentiment was quickly shared by Andrea and Faris, blurting expressions of surprise; Emily, Toby, and Julian all let out, in return, noises of confusion.

"No way," murmured Luke, quieter than the others, looking around while Plumon slithered onto his lap, before he lifted her to her usual position on his shoulders.

"If someone could explain what's going on..." Toby said meekly, rubbing the back of his head, watching as Simon scrambled to his feet, "that would be great." The small boy picked the even smaller-than-normal sheep into his arms, frowning a bit with concern at the reduced level of their partners.

"You've gotta be kidding," Faris said, a sort of lopsided grin falling onto his face. "I'd know it anywhere."

"An explanation, please!" Emily said, raising her voice as Mismon fluttered into her arms.

There was more murmuring, but it was Andrea who actually gave the answer first. "We're... home."

* * *

><p>"This is ridiculous," Epidemon sneered, pulling his coat closer around himself. "We're supposed to be the elite of Era's army. The elite don't travel by foot." It was cold, it was dark, and the wind was whipping around them- if one could bring oneself to feel sorry for the leaders of Era's army, the plague doctor's discomfort would almost be understandable. Almost.<p>

"Will you shut up for ten seconds?" Javermon spat back, curling his lip back. "Lord Era - and I'd advise you use his proper name - already explained this. We're on watch. The Sovereigns are getting _scared_," he continued; his voice was nothing short of dripping with delight at that statement. "We have to at least pretend to be stealthy if we want to get anywhere. It's not even that far."

"Say what you want, Cujo," Epidemon replied, looking down the length of his beak at the canine. "I just think he's too busy playing Yggdrasil to lend his _loyal servants_ a ha-"

With a snarl, Javermon slashed out at the bird-man, who only had just enough time to leap backwards, skidding across the half-frozen ground until he dug his heels into the permafrost. He would have retaliated, but the small form of PicoDaemon dropped between them, looking blankly between the two. "We're wasting time," the small digimon said plainly, matter-of-factly, before he pulled his claws out of the ground and pushed back into the air, the batting of his wings almost lost to the howl of the wind.

Javermon snorted, but continued walking, pulling his cape closer around himself; Epidemon sneered, but fell silent as well, and after a moment, he continued after the dog, ice crystals crunching under claw and boot.

* * *

><p>"Welcome to downtown Capital City!" Simon exclaimed after the stunned silence that followed, even as Efudemon pulled himself up by clawing at the boy's shorts and up the back of his hoodie.<p>

"Is it always this dark?" Simon's partner asked - as soon as he pulled himself up onto the boy's shoulder - looking around.

"Something definitely seems off," Andrea admitted, kneeling down to pick up Cindemon. She stood up straight, cradling the tiger-puff under one arm, and reached for her D-GEAR with her free hand.

"This is where you said you're from, right?" Fuwamon said from Toby's arms, peeking up.

"Some of us, yeah," Faris replied, indicating Simon, Andrea, and himself, smiling back. "I moved here with our dad after Jules' and I's parents split up- so Julian's been here at least a bit, he's visited. And..." he looked to Toby and Emily. "You two have at least been here, didn't you say?" That conversation back on the beach seemed so far away now.

"I gotta admit I've never been to this part of it," Emily said, shrugging and smiling faintly. "My cousins and aunts and uncles don't live around here."

"And I've only been through a few times- I live further up the state," Toby added.

Luke spoke up, hands in his pockets. "I used to live around here, too," he said, looking around. "A while ago."

Faris grinned. "Those of us in the area oughta meet up some time, once we're all done with this digital world stuff," he said.

"... Uh, guys? Check your D-GEARs."

It was almost reflexive that, in a chorus, the seven digimon corrected, "D-GEAR units," but it sort of trailed off when the kids were... less than calm. The screens of the little gizmos had gone completely white, and they were shaking just lightly- not nearly as hard as they did for a Virtue evolution, more like a phone set to vibrate going off.

Simon frowned slightly as he tapped at the buttons on his D-GEAR. Instead of the usual screens and menus it brought up, it was bringing up staticky holographs, like three-dimensional TV static. The other human children around him seemed to be having the same experience; notably, when Julian tried to bring up the map, it flickered rapidly, twisting in shapes that were decidedly... not-spherical. It seemed like it couldn't make up its mind.

All at once, all seven little devices let out a shrill beep, their screens going pure-white again, and their glitched holograms disappearing.

"Oh, _that's_ a good sign, yeom," Finmon remarked, bopping her nose at Faris' feet, and he knelt to scoop her up. With the push of a button from their owners, each of the D-GEAR units powered down, the beep cutting out just as quickly as it had started.

"So what... are we supposed to do?" Efudemon said, peering over Simon's shoulder still.

There was a moment of quiet consideration. "... first, I'm gonna suggest we move out of the road," Emily provided. "We may not get hurt but I still don't like the fact that cars keep coming at us, y'know?"  
>It was a good enough suggestion, and the group shuffled their way over to an alleyway, lined with grafitti.<p>

"So- question still stands. What are we going to do?" Luke said, putting his hands in his pockets again. "I guess we could try to split up and look around, but..."

"But how would we find eachother again?" finished Mismon from Emily's arms, and Luke nodded. Without their D-GEARs to function as maps and locators, they were kind of out of luck.

Andrea put her hand to her face, stroking her chin in thought. "We meet back here." She looked up - even through the dense fog, there was a shining disc of light visible beyond it- the sun. It was mid-afternoon, judging by its vague positioning. "At sundown. That's a few hours. We'll go in groups. A couple can stay back here and inspect around here. One group goes up the street, one down it. Look for anything that looks like it might be a hint towards... whatever's going on."

As though awaiting his decision, the spirited girl looked to Julian with a _well?_ expression; eventually, he shrugged.  
>"As good a plan as we ever have."<p>

That was, by all accounts, a ringing endorsement. "So who goes where, and with whom?" Fuwamon asked, peering around.

"Plumon and I will stay here," Luke volunteered immediately, and just about jumped out of his skin when Simon flung an arm around him.

"And... not-quite-bunny-boy and I'll play watch-dog, too."

Julian raised an eyebrow, but nodded, then turned and said, "Faris, Toby, you go with Andrea. Emily, you're with me."  
>Odd break-ups as they were, nobody argued; making sure their digimon were soundly in their arms, the two leaving groups got together. They bid each other good luck, and they went off their own directions, leaving Simon, Luke, and their respective partners standing in the alleyway.<p>

Almost immediately after the two "mobile" teams had gone their ways, Simon ducked further into the alleyway, purposed and intentional; Efudemon had to dig his claws into the boy's hoodie to keep from flying off. Luke blinked a couple times, before scurrying after him. "What are you doing?" the blond boy murmured, more to himself than to Simon.

The be-hatted boy stopped a ways in, underneath a fire escape; here in the alley, the fog was less pronounced, and things looked clearer, though the colour was still washed out.

"What's this, Si?" Efudemon asked, as Simon reached out and placed a hand on a grafitti tag, unable to keep himself from smiling.

"It's still here!"

Luke caught up then, blinking a couple times and definitely confused as he looked at the spray-painted image on the brick wall.

It was a very simplified, stylized white rabbit with eyes closed, standing over a zig-zag spray of red paint; one ear flopped down while the other stood up before it drooped. Red bracelets adorned its wrists, with a fluffy red tail behind, while it threw both of its four-fingered mitts up into 'rock hands', a big red tongue sticking out of its smiling mouth. Next to it, in big letters that faded from red to yellow, was the insignia 'RapBit' (or possibly 'Rap8it', it was hard to tell)

"Dare I ask why you just bolted down an alleyway to look at a piece of grafitti?" Luke asked, rubbing the back of his head. Simon only grinned.

"This means I was right about where we are, for certain!" the boy in goggles said, picking Efudemon off his shoulders and into his arms, pulling his hand away from the wall.

Luke raised an eyebrow. "What, about it being Capital City? I... I mean, would have guessed we were here regardless of if you had said it or not, no offense..."

"It clearly means something more," Plumon provided, though she was far from sure as to _what_. As far as she or her partner were concerned, Simon was living a half a world away, for the moment.

"_This is my tag_," Simon said, entirely giddy. "I mean- I made this. This is mine. This means we're near where I live."

"Aww yeah, rabbits represent," Efudemon said, holding up a claw for a high-five. ... high-two. Whatever. Simon reciprocated, shifting his partner into one arm to hold Efudemon with one hand and high-five (whatever) him with the other.

"Come on," Simon said then, beckoning for Luke to follow him back out of the alleyway the way they had come.

"Why do I have the feeling this is not going to involve waiting around for the others to get back," Luke murmured, slowly walking after the very energetic leader of the group. He was even more-so than usual; something had clearly gotten him jazzed up, or _something_.

"Because fate works in mysterious ways?" Plumon provided, but the tone in her voice implied that had she shoulders, she would be shrugging them.

* * *

><p>"The chances are," Andrea said, almost immediately, once they were out of earshot of the others, "that Simon is going to get distracted by something, and Julian has some sort of agenda, from the way he's been talking. So! My bet is that we're going to be the only ones actually looking for a way back to the Digital World."<p>

Faris and Toby exchanged sort-of-surprised looks, but didn't argue.

"So, uh, what's the plan? If we're gonna be doing this whole recon thing, yeom," Finmon asked.

"Please don't tell me we're going to split up further," Toby mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. The trio stopped walking, and Andrea turned to look at them. For a moment Fuwamon could almost swear her face softened for a second. ... only a second.

"No," she said after a moment, shrugging. "We just need to cover as much ground as we can."

"Aye-aye, madame capitaine," Faris said with a mock-salute and a big grin; both Toby and Andrea rolled their eyes in response.

Cindemon fixed both boys with sort of scrutinizing expressions, before he nodded his head-body, turning his eyes up to Andrea. "Let's go, yeah?"

The trio began their search, looking up alleyways and up and down any street they could; it was a bit frustrating to be making as little progress as they were, but at least they had Faris' (constant) (bad) wisecracking to groan at all the while. It wasn't entirely fruitless, however; once they had poked their way up and down a few streets and city blocks to no avail, it was Fuwamon that piped up in her little, meek voice.

"Look!" she said, peering over Toby's arms, in which she was wrapped. It caught the attention of only Toby, but he almost yelped with surprise. Darting through the alleyway, mixed among the fuzzy shapes and unclear outlines, a nearly-transparent - barely there - image of a digimon - a bipedal hawk, from the quick glimpse they got - fleeing from something; it was gone by the time Faris and Andrea made their way over, reacting to the younger boy's noise of surprise.

"What happened, yeom?" Finmon asked, blinking a couple times.

"A... digimon. I think," Toby muttered, tilting his head. He wasn't entirely sure he had actually seen it. "Let's... move on?" he tried, shaking his head; Fuwamon, in his arms, nodded her head.

Andrea shrugged and nodded as well.

* * *

><p>"So what was up with the group divisions, anyway?" Emily said, holding Mismon close to her chest.<p>

Julian raised an eyebrow and turned; he, like Andrea was holding Cindemon, held Paleomon under one arm like a soccer ball. "We're searching for any clues to help us get back out to the Digital World," he said, shrugging one shoulder.

Emily rolled her eyes, smiling a bit. "Like, I don't think you'd do anything if you didn't have a plan for it? You seemed to have an idea or... something like that."

The pair walked for a while, down the sidewalk; Julian spoke after a few moments of silence, still walking forward. "You and I are the ones who live farthest away from here. I want to figure out why it is we were all chosen to go on this wild goose chase of a mission, since nobody else is going to tell me." He stopped, looking over his shoulder at the girl.  
>"I'm sure we can catch up with Andrea and her group and trade you off, if you don't want to be stuck with me."<p>

Emily raised her eyebrows, but she shook her head. "It makes sense! ... I think... hmm." She paused to think. "We're the two who have been to the fewest parts of the city, yeah? ... so, like, the chances are... we've been somewhere? If it really does have to do with the city... do you know what I mean?"

Julian nodded. It was, after all, his idea. They had been the fewest places; therefore, they had fewer places to look, to see if there could possibly be any connection. If there was a certain place that was key, there could only be so few places that two outsiders would have been at any point in time.

"I don't think we can use any of the public transport," Mismon said, stating the obvious. "It might take a while to get anywhere on foot..."

"I do advise we hurry," Paleomon said quietly.

"Easy for you to say- we're carrying you guys," Emily replied.

* * *

><p>It was a truly amazing feat, as far as Javermon was concerned, that Epidemon hadn't whined even once more since their trek out of Era's stronghold in the Barren Lands- it helped that they had entered (returned to, in PicoDaemon's case) a far more... temperate... area. In fact, it was almost uncomfortable for the <em>dog<em>, the humidity of the damp, sticky swamp becoming oppressive to the furriest of the trio the further they went. It was, of course, not a problem for them to pass- rebels were rare, or at least any who would do anything about them.

Needless to say, very few digimon stopped them, but they had to be careful regardless, the closer they drew to the temple.

PicoDaemon dropped from the sky, flying much more on-level with his coworkers, but all three of the trio had little to say until a tremendous tree came into view - into its trunk, Ebonwumon's temple was carved. Like in the Floating Ruins, a long "main street" ran up the length to the temple, lined with digimon's homes and structures- though it was less "street" and more "damp but generally clear broad pathway". _Un_like the Floating Ruins, most of the digimon were in hiding, and they could see eyes peering out to see the three Reaper-class digimon.  
>The temple was not yet open to them, and this time there were no Chosen Children - <em>trusted<em> individuals - to cause the connection to weaken.

They'd have to force the door open themselves.

"This should be fun," Epidemon remarked, his voice bearing the smirk his immobile mask could not display. His eyes flicked to the side, looking to the canine.

Javermon's lips were curled back into a nasty, sharp-toothed grin as his body began to change form, becoming feral and... significantly larger. His face lengthened into a more canine form, his mask dissolving away as a heavy collar with a length of chain fell into place around his neck. Black bands snapped around his arms as his forearms became longer, more like clawed _tree-trunks_. His legs grew, become more digitigrade and dog-like; soon, the only clothing that remained on his body, aside from the black bands and the collar, was a tattered red loincloth that bore a striking resemblance to his cape. His hair extended into a ridge of mane-like fur that ran from the back of his head down between his shoulders.  
>He let out a feral howl, abandoning subtlety to the wind, as acid-green spit began to drip out of his mouth. Around one hand he wrapped the length of slack chain.<p>

The now much more... animalistic... Javermon turned his head to look at Epidemon and PicoDaemon, and said nothing. He only growled and nodded his head.

"Fantastic," Epidemon chuckled, and the three surged forward.

* * *

><p>It was a bit of a walk, admittedly, but they weren't entirely too far from where they had woken up when Simon finally came to a stop. Luke was in no hurry, but was on the other boy's heels. They had been on the edge of the actual downtown area, and so it wasn't too much to ask for them to find their way into the suburbs. They walked up in front of a house, the same as any other- it was totally nondescript. The fog was a constant, but they could make details out enough. Two cars in the driveway, a bike haphazardly propped up against the garage door, a smaller version of the Rapbit grafitti scrawled on the fence between the front and back yards.<p>

"This where you live?" Luke asked, though it was obvious, to look at the expression on Simon's face; the red-haired boy couldn't keep the smile off his face, and even Efudemon was wiggling a bit with spillover excitement.

"Born and raised," Simon confirmed, nodding his head; he turned to Luke and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I just really kinda wanted to see it again."

Luke nodded his head; he could understand the desire. It had been a long series of weeks in the Digital World- he couldn't blame the other boy for getting a bit homesick.

"It's... been a while..." Simon murmured, and the smile started falling from his face, replaced with a contemplative look; he looked next to one of the cars, where luggage was sitting, like someone had just gotten home from a trip. "... Come on," he said, motioning for Luke to follow him again as he approached the house; Luke sighed a bit over-dramatically before he did so.

"Can't deny he's a strong personality," Plumon remarked, tilting her head.

The pair of humans and their digimon crept up to the window, even though they knew they were all but ghosts to the world around them for whatever reason- it was more of habit than any fear of getting caught, most likely.  
>Though the sounds were muffled and fuzzy, through the window they could hear the sound of two adults speaking, almost frantically, while a teenage girl's voice intercut at various points. They could make out words, snippets of what was being said.<p>

"... _you were supposed to be keeping track of-_"

"_I told you, mom, I don't know! He was here one second and then he... wasn't!_"

"... how long do you think we've been gone?" Simon said, suddenly, furrowing his brows and casting his eyes to the ground.

It was Plumon that spoke up now, curled around Luke's shoulders. "Era had said... he'd spent a hundred years, but he was only ten years older than he was when he came into our world," the little snake said, straining to remember. "You've been in the Digital World for..."

"Weeks, now," Efudemon provided, ever-so-helpfully.

"... so if it's... ten to one," Simon said, and he was trying to tally up the days. ... he eventually gave up, and just said, "... we've been gone for days. At least." He frowned even deeper. "I... think my parents just got home. They were out of town for a few days when this whole thing started. It _can't_ have been as long as we've been in the Digital World, or they wouldn't be reading Sarah the riot act right now..."  
>Simon was conflicted- for a moment, he wished not to return to the Digital World, but that he could be seen by his family, or contact them. He might not have the greatest opinion of his older sister, but... the worry in both his parents' and his sister's voice was disconcerting to say the least. He could hear that they were crying.<p>

And if that wasn't a nice pit in your stomach, what was?

Luke blinked a few times- the thought of the passage of time, of him and the other kids being missing, had totally failed to strike him until now- he was a bit taken aback, to say the least. "I..." and again the thought of what he knew that Era was doing hit him in the chest. He shuddered deeply, but... he couldn't bring himself to interrupt Simon's moment.

"Uh, yeah, sorry I had to derail us," Simon said suddenly, sighing deep.

"I understand," Luke said, quiet and nodding his head. He cringed a bit. "I- don't mean to interrupt, or rush us, but... we have to get back to the Digital World. As soon as we possibly can."  
>Time was passing them by- ten to one, right? That meant that... they had already been here for nearly an hour, just walking, and who knows how long they had been out? Hours? Days? That meant that Era had time to...<p>

Simon looked at him, and tilted his head. "I... heck, I'd think you'd want to go check up on your own fam, not rush back."

It was Luke's turn to have a pit in his stomach, and before he could control himself he shook his head. "Nah. Let's just... go." Simon looked at him scrutinizingly; way too much of a dodged question, the blond boy realized after a minute, and he groaned internally.

... but to Luke's great relief, Simon _didn't remark further_. "Let's get going, then!"

Luke breathed out, and found himself remarkably thankful that the de facto leader of the motley crew of humans and digimon was a bit of a blockhead as they began to walk back towards the alleyway. He paused and looked over his shoulder- he could have sworn he saw something, an image of something, but...  
>He shook his head and followed after Simon.<p>

* * *

><p>The more they went on, the more that it turned out that... Toby and Fuwamon had definitely not been imagining it. Andrea and Faris both, looking around for anything to give them a clue as to what was going on, and instead... phantom images of digimon, fading out as quickly as they appeared, hidden in alleyways and nooks and crannies, up on fire escapes and on top of awnings. Just like the kids, they seemed to have no physical effect on their surroundings- even less than the kids, as a matter of fact; they seemed completely apart from their environment, leaping through solid objects and tripping over air. They looked to mostly be Baby II and Child-level digimon, with the stray Adult-level in the mix here and there.<p>

"They look like they're running from something," Andrea remarked; the images of digimon all seemed to be running in the direction from which the little group had come. _Always_ a good plan, going in the direction from which everything was fleeing.

"Do you think it's possible," Toby said, speaking slow, as though he were thinking it through as he said it, "that... we're kind of on the line between the Digital and Real worlds?"

"Makes as much sense as anything," Faris replied, shrugging one shoulder nonchalantly.

"No, it makes sense," Andrea said, once more stroking her chin in thought. "It's why we haven't been hit by any of the cars. And why everything looks all..." she looked around, and rolled her eyes. "Like the entire world needs to get its glasses adjusted."

"Yeah, I didn't _really_ think stuff was supposed to be non-solid and blurry in the real world, yeom," Finmon added, smiling as usual. "'Least not the way you guys talked about it."

"And it's probably why we keep seeing glimpses of the Digital World?" Fuwamon said, and the others nodded in affirmation.

"But that doesn't explain," Cindemon cut in, "why we're here at all." There was a pause, before the little furball continued. "That said, I'm more concerned with what's going on." He turned his eyes ahead, where the image of a white cat digimon falling onto its face and dissolving into light caused him to cringe.

"Come on, then," Andrea said, decisively, motioning for the two boys to follow. "If nothing else, it's worth it to check this out. We've got the time."

The trio, with their digimon in-hand, took off down the street, flashes of digimon surging past them - even through them, about which Faris expressed his _intense_ displeasure. The further they went, the more frequently the phantom digimon appeared, and the longer their images persisted before vanishing. It wasn't long before they stumbled upon the apparent source of the illusory digimon's panic.

"Well, crap," Andrea said, deadpan, even as her pupils constricted.

Even though it was transluscent and flickered like a faulty TV signal, the digimon before them showed no signs of fading away like the others. It was large, and made one-hundred percent of metal- it looked like a dragon or dinosaur cobbled out of robotic leftovers, with two large cannons mounted on its back and hollow black eyes.

"A MachineDramon!" Cindemon exclaimed, his eyes going wide as the giant metal monstrosity stepped a heavy foot forward- though it made no sound, made no impact in the concrete, they could almost see the street cracking under its weight and force, hear the thud of its foot hitting ground.

Even though it was clearly not of the world they currently inhabited, the trio couldn't help but feel a surge of fear the closer it lurched. Toby buried his face in his over-large hood as Fuwamon snuggled down into his sleeves; Andrea rooted herself to the ground, clenching her fists, as Cindemon tried to growl, as though to intimidate; Faris just groaned while Finmon threw her fins over her eyes.

"I, uh," Andrea murmured after a moment, "think we've seen enough."

"_Word,_" Faris said, turning on his heel and walking away _very quickly_ - the other two humans were quick to follow. As they walked, Toby frowned, going through his memories; he looked at the two older children as they turned a corner, the phantom MachineDramon drifting out of sight.

"Didn't Wisemon say something about Era wanting to mobilize digimon into the real world?" the small boy said suddenly.

The other two froze in their tracks; their time way back in that underwater castle had obviously fallen out of their minds.

"Oh that's just skippy," drawled Faris.

Andrea put her fingers to the bridge of her nose, and breathed out. "We're... heck. Just that thing alone could..." she shook her head, trailing off. "Fear's not gonna get us anywhere. Let's keep looking."

* * *

><p>Julian and Emily indeed did take a while to get much of anywhere on foot, but they were making progress indeed- even if not entirely towards the goal they had in mind. Talking and trying to find a common locale had led them towards a particular location- a plaza, in the heart of the downtown. It took them a while to reach it- while Simon and Luke were well on their way back to the alley, the team of Julian and Emily were just then reaching the plaza. (To those keeping score at home, this equates to about an hour and a half.)<p>

"So you think this is the only place we have in common, unless we're counting the entire city?" Emily asked, looking around. In the heart of the plaza was a grand fountain, and the shady shapes of people and cars bustled around them, totally oblivious to the kids and the talking heads they held in their arms.

"Seems the only answer. And if _we've_ both been here, it'd make sense that the others had," Julian reasoned, looking at his D-GEAR - still totally functionless, and beeping shrilly when turned on. He sighed and pocketed it, before looking to Paleomon under his arm. The little dino-blob was wrinkling where his nose might have been.

"Set me down," Paleomon said, thoughtfully; his partner directly did so, and immediately the little digimon began to bounce his way over near the fountain proper; Mismon squirmed in Emily's arms until she let him go, and like Paleomon, Mismon flapped his way over to the fountain.

Julian and Emily exchanged looks; the former's eyebrows were raised, while the latter's were furrowed. "Something up?" Emily asked, looking over at the two little digimon, putting her hands on her hips.

"It feels weird!" squawked the little bird-puff, turning around in the air. Emily tilted her head, folding her arms.

"Like how?" As she said that, both she and Julian began to walk forward towards the two digimon, who were inspecting the fountain; a thought crept into the back of Julian's mind, but he pushed it down, shaking his head. It was childish.

"It feels like there's..." Paleomon frowned, peering at the fountain carefully. "Something odd about it. Do you feel anything, Julian?" he asked, looking up at his partner.

"Not particularly," the boy admitted, shrugging his shoulders and brushing his hair out of his eyes; he looked to Emily, and she shook her head with a confused expression. "Might have something to do with your being digimon and our not." Regardless, he knelt down next to his partner, looking over the rim of the fountain's basin pool. The mist from the water sprayed in his face, and he put a hand in the shallow water. He could feel, but couldn't seem to pick up, the litany of coins thrown in.

"I made a wish here, once, when I was visiting with my cousins," Emily admitted, kneeling down as well. "My cousins said it was childish, and almost left me here 'cos of it, but I wanted to do it anyway." She trailed off, looking into the reflection of the water. There was a momentary pause, before Julian spoke again.

"I did, too. Long time ago. First time I was visiting Faris after he and our dad moved out here- I think my dad was driving my mom crazy, or the other way around, so she brought me out here for a little while." He let his hand drift to the top of the water, then, out of habit, pulled out his D-GEAR.

It was working, and his eyes went wide. "Check your digivice, Emily," he said quickly, and she pulled her own out- and just like his, it was in functional order once more.

"That's it!" Mismon exclaimed, flapping his wings a little harder and almost throwing himself into the fountain spray. "It feels like Digital World energy!"

"I think we found the way back," Emily remarked, smiling.

"... among other things," Julian mumbled, his mind already slotting things together. He had a few questions for the others.

* * *

><p>"Run run run run run!" Epidemon yelped, the ground shaking violently underneath them. Javermon, still in his bestial form, gripped a brilliantly glowing orb in his jaws, running on all fours. His teammates were perched on his back - a position he would normally never let them take, but desperate times, desperate measures.<br>The damp ground beneath them was beginning to dry out and crumble, and digimon around them were panicking and running for their lives. Javermon, of course, did not heed them- indeed, he ran some over, beams of light shooting into the sky from under his massive paws as the land began to break apart beneath them.

PicoDaemon perched on the back of the dog-like digimon, his wings folded around him; he said nothing.  
>It had almost ten days, by Digital time, that the kids and their partners had been missing; the little digimon presumed that they had been laid out for hours by their own time. This job was far easier when the children weren't around.<p>

Two Sovereigns down.

Three to go.

* * *

><p>It was a couple hours later, yet, when the team finally reached the fountain all as one; the walk back and forth ate up more precious time, even though the group took it at a less-than-leisurely pace. (By this, it is meant that Julian and Emily practically sprinted back to the alley; when Andrea's team returned, each of the three explained what they had found. They had immediately taken off towards the fountain plaza at a brisk jog, at the urging of Emily and Julian, to discuss finer details on the way.)<p>

"Phantom digimon. Joy."

"I... hadn't even thought about my family..."

"I remember that fountain, yo! Used to go there all the time..."

The sun was sunken past the barrier of the buildings around them, and its final rays were still poking over the concrete and brick when the group arrived at the fountain. As if on cue, the kids' D-GEARs began to beep frantically - not a sustained, shrill note like before, but an ever-quickening beat of beeps.  
>"Either this is a good sign, or a terrible one," Faris remarked.<p>

It was, however, a good one - even if the kids couldn't quite tell immediately. The screens of their digivices lit up, as the water of the fountain began to shine at the same time.  
>Just like it had when they were first summoned to the digital world, the light from their devices began to swallow them (and this time, their digimon - of course) in a brilliant white glare.<p>

As they faded out of the pseudo-real world, however, something was... decidedly different.

As soon as the real world around them faded out, something hit the kids and their digimon hard from one side, throwing them completely out of alignment- and away from one another.


	32. Chapter 32: Devil on Your Back

_A/N: THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS when you decide to write 50,000 words of your fic for NaNoWriMo. Shit gets done. I will be back on-schedule next week because I am typing until my fingers_ bleed_, so. You get to reap the benefits! Enjoy~_

* * *

><p>Everything was a good deal darker than it should have been, even when Luke opened his eyes. He was looking up into a night sky mottled with clouds. A large moon shone through the cloud cover, a pinkish-orange colour; dark, spindly trees framed the view of the sky.<br>They were definitely back in the Digital World.

Sampamon was - aside from being, indeed, Sampamon, thus being once more at child level - draped across his midsection, looking around. Luke pushed himself up to a sitting position, placing a hand on the snake's forehead.

"You okay?" were the first words he said; she turned her head and nodded, closing her eyes with a faint smile.

"And you are, as well?"

"Not dead yet," he surmised, shrugging, and he breathed out heavily.

"Ever the optimist," Sampamon said, smiling faintly.

Luke scanned his surroundings as best he could. It was... dark. That was about the size of it. They appeared to be alone- somehow, he couldn't bring himself to be surprised by this fact. The last thing he could remember before looking up at the sky was something - a digimon? - colliding with the group, throwing them apart.  
>They were situated in a small clearing of trees, a cliff face to one side and a vast expanse of what seemed to be a leafless forest of trees in all others.<br>He sighed and pulled his D-GEAR out of his pocket - it was once again in full working condition. Sampamon reared up to peer at the screen upside-down as the boy brought up the map.

There was no signal from the others' D-GEARs.  
>Once more he could not bring himself to be surprised.<p>

"Come on," he mumbled, picking Sampamon up and allowing her to slither onto his shoulders.

"I'm going to take this to mean that we're going to be looking for the others for a while," the snake said conversationally; Luke lifted a hand and set it on the jewel on the serpent's forehead.

"Right as usual."

They did not know - had no way of knowing, thanks to the limited range of the D-GEAR unit for detecting its fellows, that across the area - flung to each of its corners - was another small group; however, these stories will be given their fair focus in due time.

With such limited knowledge, the best bet that Luke had was to pick a direction and begin walking. He walked parallel to the cliff face, into the trees a bit; he kept his D-GEAR in front of him- not just for the map, but to provide some light. All the light around them seemed to be absorbed uselessly into the trees and the dark soil, ensuring that the surroundings stayed dark. Sampamon kept her eyes forward, nudging her partner with her head whenever he was about to walk smack into a tree. Occasionally she could see glowing eyes peer out of the brambly brush, suspicious of these new intruders, but they slunk back into the dark as quickly as they had come, clearly wanting no trouble.

It was like this for several hours- the lighting conditions never changed, even as the moon began to sink, its glow faintly visible through the thick cloud cover. Sampamon narrowed her eyes as they walked, watching what they had assumed was the moon. Why weren't there more of them?

"I think that was the sun," Sampamon said slowly, after a while, looking backwards.

"Hmm?" Luke said, snapping out of the minor trance he had been in- and nearly running into a tree, without Sampamon to signal to him. He looked at her on his shoulders, waiting patiently for her to continue speaking.

"I can see the moons - plural - behind us," she responded, then furrowed her brow. "I think Deekamon said something to us once. An area where the sun is only bright as a moon- the Dark Woods?" She was speaking as though she were trying very hard to recall, and was not quite sure.

Luke paused, leaning against a tree-trunk. "So..." he sighed, folding his arms. "We're gonna be stumbling around in the dark for a while, I take it?"

"I'm afraid so- if I'm correct," Sampamon said with a nod of her head, sighing as well.

"Do you want to find somewhere to stop?" Luke asked, looking around. "If light isn't going to be an issue..." he breathed out heavily. "And it's been a long day." The snake nodded her head, nudging her nose against Luke's cheek and squeezing a little around his shoulders- a snake-hug of sorts. He smiled faintly, nodding his thanks, taking a turn towards the cliff- there was likely to be some form of outcropping there, if nothing else, under which they could find shelter.

It was quite a ways down the length of the rocky face until they found something suitable: a small cave, just about ten feet wide, five deep, and perhaps seven high, with no visible paths in or out. It was Sampamon who spotted it in the low light; she seemed to be seeing a lot better than the human boy.  
>It was nothing fancy, but it was dry and sheltered, and they could hide behind the lip of the little cave to have a bit more of a proper hiding-spot.<p>

Sitting within their temporary shelter, the two were... Well. While they enjoyed the others' company, and had every intention of finding them as soon as was humanly (or digimonly) possible, they were both more solitary types by nature, and they felt more at ease. This was tempered by the fact that they - of all of them - knew what was going on, what was at stake, and the rush, but... panicking wouldn't do anything for them. It would only attract digimon with less than charitable intentions.

"So how do you guys know about all these Areas?" Luke asked, pulling his knees up to his chest while Sampamon coiled up on the floor of the cave.

Sampamon bowed her head. "Deekamon... told us many things. To prepare us for what we were created to do- learning the Areas of our world was one of the most elementary."

Luke looked at her for a minute, then nodded. "There's... a lot he didn't tell you guys, isn't there?"

The serpent paused, before looking up and nodding. "But there is much he told us, too. Of our purpose, our mission, the world we live in." She looked out, into their dim surroundings. "He told us that we are the Sovereigns' last line of defense- that they had tried everything else they could until they created us." She smiled faintly. "And summoned you to us."

He nodded his head, thinking. He pulled his legs closer to his body. "At the end of it all..." he sighed, then smiled, himself. "I... guess I'm glad. Not... that I'd wish anything bad on your world. Just, that..." he trailed off, looking up at the ceiling. Sampamon understood, and slithered closer, laying her head on his lap.

"I believe we all are. Human and digimon alike. We are grateful for you, for without you we'd not exist; you are grateful for us, and eachother, because you were all lacking something."

Luke said nothing beyond a hummed "mm-hmm", nodding his agreement. He lay his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.  
>He was asleep before either could really get another word out. Sampamon smiled, shifting her entire body into the boy's lap, laying her head down on his chest before she too drifted to sleep.<p>

* * *

><p>Luke's dreams were... less than pleasant. A tall, gangly shape played in and out at the edge of his mind, dancing through the film of his dreams. It sprouted black wings, dissolved into black mist, crushed digimon with its hands like they were nothing and left no trace behind.<br>The humanoid was replaced by a strange black shape, trails of smoke left in its wake, danced about on all-fours, chasing any trace of light and devouring it. It turned, an eyeless face covered in bandages. It opened its mouth, strained, as yellow eyes began to force their way through the bandages, sprouting all over its body, a dozen - then a hundred - wicked black slits of pupils focused on Luke. He could feel a scream ripping its way out of his throat, but no sound came out; he could see the sound itself absorbed by the black digimon.  
>The more he tried to cry out, the more the shape of the digimon changed. It became like a dragon or a serpent, with only two legs and a brilliant plume of fur (or feathers?) on its head, made entirely of black save for two shining yellow eyes, no pupils at all, glossed and fogged over as though it were blind. The dark snake began to hiss, before suddenly lurching forward, jaw unhinged like a rattlesnake's, primed to devour, and then-<p>

Luke awoke in a cold sweat, his eyes flying open; the weight of Sampamon on his lap and chest was a comfort. However, his sudden jerky motion stirred the real snake as well. For a moment, when he looked at her, his breath hitched, but he was quick to calm from that momentary fright. The image of the tremendous snake wouldn't fade, however.

"Are you alright?" Sampamon said, looking up at him with an expression of concern on her face.

"Yeah, I'm-"

And then Luke looked up, and his heart leapt into his throat when he saw yellow eyes glowing in the darkness.

Sitting in front of the pair, hidden by shadows but very close, was an Ichimon. Even though it was half-invisible in the dark, it had the smoky body, the slitted eye in the middle of its forehead between two slanted, "normal" eyes that almost glowed, the chains wrapped around its arms and midsection - it was unmistakable. Sampamon began hissing low, her eyes narrowed and the plumage on her head pinning back. Luke, meanwhile, was halfway to paralyzed.

"Don't mean harm," the black digimon said, throwing his - for the voice was quiet but masculine - hands up and backing away none too gracefully. "Were sleeping odd. Wanted to make sure okay."

Perhaps understandably, Sampamon was not entirely convinced. She slithered off of her partner's lap, keeping her eyes on the dark digimon. She looked at him, scrutinizing, but said nothing.

"Name is Ichimon," Ichimon said with a little bow of his head; Luke couldn't help but chuckle nervously- they knew, of course, _very_well. He said nothing, however; Ichimon tilted his head, but looked between the boy and snake. "You are?"

With a bit of trepidation, boy and snake gave their names; the little black digimon before them held itself entirely differently from... the one with which they had prior experience. He had all the air of any other friendly digimon they had encountered - though perhaps a bit more quiet and composed, even with the slightly broken speech pattern.

The Ichimon tilted his head in response to the names, as though running them over his mind- had he heard them before? With bated breath they awaited his response; however, their worry was for nothing, as after a minute, they could almost see the lightbulb go on over the little digimon's head, and his face lit up in kind.

"Virtue Warrior!" he said, beaming and looking positively honored to be in their presence. A good sign.

Luke heaved a gentle sigh, relaxing - just slightly - as he nodded. "I assume," he said, "you are from around here?"

Ichimon nodded in earnest, and looked a bit... sheepish.  
>... a sheepish Ichimon. This was not, by any means, easy to get used to- try as they might they could not dissociate the digimon's appearance from the one with which they had had a... personal investment.<p>

"You sleep in my cave- or, alcove," he said, breaking through the duo's thoughts. "My home, what I mean. I don't think you notice me, but you not bother me. It not a problem. Is good to stay hidden."

"Is this area controlled by Era?" Luke asked, bringing his knees to his chest.

Ichimon nodded his head. "But that usually not problem. This place been under Era control for many years..." he looked out of the cave. "Not much left that Era worry about. Few agents, usually. But..." He took a deep breath. "There a strong digimon here, past few days. Many friends of mine..." His voice trailed off. With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes (all three of them), and without their faint light, only his faint dark silhouette was visible in the darkness of the alcove.

There was a heady silence, before Sampamon bowed her head, eyes closed. "Our sympathies," she said, rearing her head back.

Ichimon looked at the serpent and nodded his head.

"Uhm, if it's not too much to ask," Luke said, slowly, "what kind of digimon is it? That is, what should we be on the lookout for?"

"Tall," Ichimon said, after a moment of thought. "Two feet, two arms. Long tail. I sorry- not seen much of him. Only in shadows, sometimes stories."

With a sort of heavy sigh and nod, Luke brought himself to his feet. "We'll... be on the lookout," he said, kneeling to pick Sampamon up. The snake slithered up his arms and onto his shoulders, settling in comfortably. "We have to find some friends of our own, actually."

Ichimon tilted his head.  
>"I come with?" he said, suddenly, blinking a couple times. Luke's eyebrows shot up, and he looked to the serpent curled around his shoulders.<p>

Sampamon, had she shoulders of her own, would have shrugged; she did not, hownsideever, and so merely nodded her head, after a moment of consideration. The boy nodded.

"... but I'm afraid I can't give you a shoulder ride," he remarked, a bit dryly.

"Seat's taken," Sampamon said with a smile.

Ichimon nodded his head, and was close to the human boy's ankles as he began to walk out of the cave and into the forest once more. Luke once more took out his D-GEAR to provide at least some form of light- and in hopes that perhaps it would, by some stroke of genius luck, provide any clues to the locations of the others.

* * *

><p>It was hard to tell the difference between any two portions of the forest- it was all black gnarled trees and dark skies. It was nice, they realized, to have a guide who was familiar with the terrain; Ichimon soon took the lead. He was, of course, almost impossible to actually see in the eye-strainingly low light, but he guided with his soft voice more than anything.<p>

Between his leading the way and Sampamon keeping her eyes ahead, Luke actually didn't run into any trees- a feat in and of itself, something to be proud of. As they walked, glowing eyes peered out of the darkness and vanished with a rustle into the brush.

In fact, aside from that rustling and Ichimon's voice, it was _disconcertingly_still and quiet. It was almost... lifeless.

They walked for some time - much of (what they could only assume was) the day was spent on walking- and making little headway. They walked along the base of the cliff for a ways, before Ichimon led them further into the trees.  
>As they went, they talked; Ichimon talked of friends of his that had been defeated, while Luke and Sampamon spoke of their own friends - the rest of the team - that they were trying to re-join, in turn.<p>

The further they walked, the more the trees seemed to thin out, perhaps nearing the edge of the forest - or a clearing, such as it was.

"If you are going to meet friends," Ichimon said, leading them into the clearing, "it be here. This the heart of the Area." It was... well, there were fewer trees, and it almost seemed to be a bit lighter, though the very earth beneath them still seemed to absorb light down into it.  
>The silence was less lifeless, here- it was more serene, if anything.<p>

They sat near a tree at the edge of the area; Ichimon actually skittered off into the dark once, returning with a terrafruit in each hand. (Where he had found them was a mystery, seeing as the trees all seemed to be dead on a good day, but they weren't going to complain.)  
>Boy and snake could not shake the feeling of needing to find the rest of the group, but for a while, they relaxed. Sampamon slithered onto the ground, off of Luke's shoulders. Ichimon talked about locations in the Area that their friends might be - or might be drawn to - and what directions they were in, should they want to leave here and look for them later.<p>

He was a helpful little guy.

It was some time later that the serenity was broken - quite impressively.

Across the clearing, a dark shape silently emerged from between the trees; it was the first movement in a while, and so it immediately caught the eyes of Luke, Sampamon, and Ichimon.  
>Luke's heart sank, and Sampamon began to hiss - almost involuntarily. Ichimon, for his part, suddenly dove behind Luke and clung to his shoulders, trembling.<p>

The shape was entirely too familiar, even in the darkness.

It was tall, and human-like. Mismatched arms hung heavy at its sides, a thick tail thrashing behind it. Tattered, fabric-like wings twitched awkwardly on its back. A metal mask was settled around its face, framed by wild hair.

Unmistakable.

Forbidramon.  
>Or, a Forbidramon, or-<p>

"Been a while, hasn't it?" the Forbidramon sneered- the smile on its face was not visible in the darkness, but the tone betrayed every little bit of the expression. After all, Luke had felt it spread across his face more than enough times to have its form etched into his mind.

Luke's hands clenched involuntarily, knuckles going white, as the low hiss of Sampamon echoed in his ears emptily. He got to his feet, tense; Ichimon was all but curled around Luke's legs, quivering.

The perfect-level digimon began to laugh.

"I know what you're thinking!" the Forbidramon said, that sneer still so _audible_in every word that came from his mouth. "You must be thinking, why, whatever is this? Some trick played by our lord Era? Has he found some new core to render you obsolete? Or do I just have a really fantastic sense of humor?"

Luke said nothing. It felt like he was rooted to the spot, unable to move any of his limbs - or his mouth, for that matter. None of these questions were what was on his mind; what _was_ran closer to the lines of a litany of 'god, why'.

The Forbidramon stepped closer, a few long-strided steps bringing him closer than might be considered comfortable to the boy, the snake down on the ground, and the black digimon around his legs. "I'll get to that, worry not, kiddo."

They could see the smile on his face now.

It was painful in its familiarity.

"But for now, I have a point of my own to make."

Before he was even done speaking, Sampamon had reared herself back, hissing her contempt; her pupils were narrowed to slits. Luke's D-GEAR began to shine brightly, as did the snake herself.

"Sampamon, Kickstart Digivolve to... Serpemon!"

As the light dissipated, the larger snake formed a wall between the large digimon and her human partner. Ichimon scrambled up onto Luke's shoulders, peering over from behind the boy's head silently.

"Cute," Forbidramon drawled, raising an eyebrow underneath his mask, a smirk playing on his lips. "But I think you may have forgotten something important, here." He thrust his red hand forward, grabbing Serpemon around the throat. He dragged her closer, effortlessly, until he was face to face with her.

Her eyes were slitted, her hiss was almost a snarl. "If you're trying to be intimidating, it's not working."

"Perfect level." He gestured to himself with his mechanical hand. "Adult level." He gstured to Serpemon.  
>"I <em>do<em> pray you don't need that much explained to you. After all," and Forbidramon looked to Luke. "You partner was always a bit on the rebellious side. Was rather annoying, no?"  
>He laughed, throwing the snake towards her partner almost effortlessly; Luke had to dart to get out of the way, lest he be bowled over by the tremendous serpent's body tumbling backwards. Forbidramon used the opportunity to take another step forward, waiting for the boy to speak; he never did, and thus Forbidramon continued.<p>

"The only reason," Forbidramon said to the still-mute Luke, "that any of your new little friends were able to defeat us - you and me - was because she rebelled. Six perfect levels couldn't defeat us."  
>No response ever came. He seemed to be getting exasperated with the lack of reaction.<br>"So! _I'm_here to make an offer to you."

"Something tells me," Luke said, quiet, almost through clenched teeth, "that I'm not going to like it."

"Oh, good, you _can_ speak!" Forbidramon remarked, smirking. "Was almost thinking I was doing all the speaking during our _time together_Freakin' mute or something. But you ought to hear me out. To do otherwise is rude."

Serpemon - straightening herself out - once more placed herself between Forbidramon and Luke. "I don't think you're in much of a place to talk about rude," Serpemon remarked, surprisingly even of tone.

"Oh, but hear me out," Forbidramon said, spreading his hands wide. "The second that Lord Era defeats the Sovereigns, he will no longer need to worry about you or your... friends. I use the term loosely." He shrugged his shoulders, smiling nastily.  
>"But you've been such a tremendous help to him! Or rather, we were- I'm not going to let you take the credit for everything."<p>

"You talk too much," Luke mumbled, closing his eyes.

"If you must be so impatient," Forbidramon mumbled, shrugging his shoulders. "You can re-join us. Your partner is welcome to, as well, though there may be a few more... alterations. To prevent the previous from happening again. It's your chance for survival!"

The boy breathed out, shaking his head, but saying nothing.

"Perhaps you don't understand." Almost effortlessly, Forbidramon outright threw Serpemon to the side and closed the distance between Luke and himself. He towered over the boy, but even so Luke did not look up to look him in the eye.  
>"Your options are to re-join with us, and once more become a member of Era's army, regain that power that you tasted- or you and your partner will die as soon as the sovereigns fall. It's your choice, kiddo."<p>

Luke smiled faintly, and finally looked up, meeting the dragon-like digimon's gaze. His voice was calm, surprisingly even.

"Can I get something straight?"  
>Forbidramon glared, but said nothing, so Luke continued.<p>

"You're the Forbidramon that Era binded to me, right? Just given a new form? New core? Something like that? I don't put it past Era."

Forbidramon smirked. "Smart kid."

"Then the only reason you were as strong as you were in the first place was because of me. Because he decided to use me as a core. Because we absorbed the cores. Without that, you're just another Perfect-level digimon. He took that extra data away from us when he decided that he didn't need me to do the job anymore, right? Just like the Virtue?"

Ichimon furrowed his brow, looking at Luke; he was going to have to ask for an explanation after the fact. However, he almost yelped and leapt off, because Forbidramon suddenly lurched forward.  
>The perfect-level growled, and suddenly he was holding Luke aloft with his red hand, his grip almost suffocating.<br>"You don't listen well," Forbidramon mumbled.

"You can't kill me, though," Luke remarked, as conversationally as Forbidramon ever was. "Right? So can we cut to the chase?"

He could see the digimon's pupils constrict behind the mask.

Forbidramon was blindsided by Serpemon suddenly throwing her body at him from the side. He released the boy, who fell to the ground without much in the way of dignity. He got to his feet; Ichimon ran up to him and carefully tapped his nose into the boy.

"Okay?" the black digimon said, tilting his head.

Luke sighed deeply- for a moment, he was apart from the world.

There was nothing to be gained from this, was there?  
>There was no un-doing what had been done. The Forbidramon... was nothing more than a distraction. An effigy. An attempt to derail him, to keep Sampamon and Luke from finding the other kids- it was a ploy to buy Era more time.<p>

He knew Era well enough to know that.

Era wouldn't - couldn't - kill the kids.  
>Not yet, at least.<br>He would only stall them.

"More or less," Luke mumbled back to Ichimon. Forbidramon snarled, getting back up, but Serpemon slithered right up, baring her fangs at him. A frown twitched at Luke's mouth for just a fraction of a second, but he brought himself to his feet. He picked Ichimon up, into his arms.

"I'm gonna assume, then, that this is the digimon that got to your friends?" he asked; Ichimon nodded his head.

"All friends child-level," Ichimon provided. Luke nodded right back.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." He sighed, and looked back at [spoiler] with a sort of sad smile. "You're a perfect level, being intimidated by an adult-level," and Serpemon hissed here as though to emphasize the point, "who picks on child-levels. Gonna be honest, here, to me it seems like without me you don't have much in the way of weight to throw around."

Forbidramon snarled, eyes narrowing, but Luke kept on.

"Gotta ask- you been demoted, ever since you got re-made? A regular agent, now? I mean, now that he's got the Reapers running around, he really need you to boss around agents?"  
>This time it was Luke's turn not to get a reply.<p>

After a moment of silence, Forbidramon snarled and threw Serpemon aside. "Can't kill _you_," he snarled, before grabbing Ichimon by the head, lifting him up, "but nothing stopping me from-" Before the flash of light could accompany Ichimon's destruction, another light broke out.

Luke's D-GEAR was shaking violently, engulfed in white light. A starburst of light burst forward, engulfing Sampamon as the symbol of Luke's virtue in vibrant magenta sank into her chest.

**_Virtuous Digivolution, begin._**

"Serpemon, virtuous digivolve to..."

Her body thrashed about, the small amounts of fur on her body bursting forth into brilliantly coloured ridges of mane, The gem on her forehead sank into her forehead and was replaced with a golden face-plate. A matching golden necklace snapped into place, as her face became less streamlined, more draconic, more distinctly featured. Another golden ring hovered around the end of her tail, but what was most important: two arms formed, golden bracelets snapping around her wrists as shocks of hair grew around her elbows. She opened her mouth and roared, rattlesnake-like fangs bared.

She reared her head back, releasing a blast of black energy as the white light dissipated; she opened eyes, slitted red pupils set in yellow irises with paler-yellow sclera.  
>"<strong>Hebidramon<strong>!"

Luke froze, his own pupils constricting for a second - part from surprise, part from the images from his dream flashing in front of his eyes, part from something approaching happiiness.  
>"Holy crap," he blurted.<p>

Forbidramon, for his part, froze as well - and likewise, his pupils constricted. He dropped Ichimon, who tumbled head-over-tail when he hit the ground. Without a second of further hesitation, Forbidramon thrust out his metal arm, releasing a black pulse of energy.  
>"<strong>Dark Wave<strong>!"

It hit the dragon-snake, sending her skidding back; Hebidramon dug her claws into the dark earth to stable herself. She reared her head back in turn, opening her mouth wide.  
>"<strong>Nightfall Sniper<strong>!"  
>For a couple of seconds, everything went absolutely pitch black - even the faint light around them was gone. As colour and light rushed back into their eyes, a concussive beam of black energy shot out of Hebidramon's mouth.<p>

It sent Forbidramon stumbling backwards, hitting him square in the chest. He curled his lip and growled, feral. The tattered wings on his back flared out.  
>"<strong>Nightfall<strong>!" he barked, kicking off the ground hard. Though it was hard to see, he was encased in a black aura, and he smashed back down to earth in front of the dragon. The aura burst, knocking Hebidramon backwards with a roar.

"Why are you fighting," she asked after she regained her composure, shaking her mane free of dirt. "What have you to gain? We will not join you; this much should be obvious. You cannot kill us; that is by Era's order. So why do you fight?"

The more humanoid dragon hissed with rage, teeth clenched and eyes wild.

"Not going to _lose again_!" he spat, charging forward with his red hand outstretched. "**Claw Crusher**!"

Hebidramon twisted her body avoided the attack, tripping Forbidramon up with her long tail, and pinning him to the ground with one clawed hand. He hissed and spat like a cornered animal.

"He's afraid," Luke said with sudden clarity, and Forbidramon froze. Hebidramon nodded her head, understanding immediately, but Ichimon blinked and tilted his head. "He..." Luke sighed. "We have a history with him. Our friends defeated him, and he doesn't take defeat well. To say the least."

Forbidramon was afraid. Of what would await him returning to Era. Of the consequences of his failure.

... Luke couldn't help but feel a bit bad, knowing Era.

"Is it true?" Hebidramon muttered, looking down, scrutinizing, at Forbidramon.

He only snarled.

That was a yes.

Slowly, Hebidramon lifted her claw and stepped back.  
>Forbidramon got to his feet, but did nothing, only breathed heavily. After a moment, the human-like digimon smiled. Not a sneer, not a smirk, a sort of resigned smile. He spread his arms out wide. An invitatation.<p>

Hebidramon sighed, bowing her head. She looked at Luke; he nodded, but sighed. He turned his head away.  
>Hebidramon backed up a couple of steps, putting distance between herself and her target, before she threw herself forward. She was encased in a black aura of her own- it took the form of a chinese dragon, all black except for shining red eyes.<br>"**Dragon Reaper**!"

She skidded to a stop, but the energy continued on, taking on a life of its own. It reared back, jaws opened wide, before it slammed into its target.

Forbidramon's red eyes shifted to yellow, the blond hair faded away, and the black wings were torn into scraps of fabric and dissipated in the air.  
>He smirked, before he was engulfed by a burst of white light that blazed into the dark sky, leaving nothing but a purple egg in his wake.<p>

Luke stepped forward, his legs feeling a bit weak, and he picked up the egg.  
>He breathed out heavily.<p>

"This is a crappy form of absolution."

Hebidramon nuzzled her nose against her partner's side.

* * *

><p>Not long after, Sampamon was... well, Sampamon, once again. She sat on Luke's lap, curled over Forbidramon's egg, as the three - herself, Luke, and Ichimon - sat under the tree once again.<p>

"I think we'll have to try and find our friends ourselves- no need to get you involved in it," Luke said, but smiled at Ichimon. "But we'll look the places you suggested. I have to thank you for your help."

"Led you to danger," Ichimon mumbled guiltily, bowing his head.

"Sometimes good things can come of it," Sampamon provided with a small smile.

Ichimon still looked dejected, however; Luke frowned and tilted his head. "I have something you can do to make up for it," he said after a minute, and dislodged Forbidramon's egg.  
>"Can you take care of this for me until he hatches, and protect him once he does?" he said, holding the egg forward towards the little smoky digimon.<p>

He blinked a few times, confused, but he broke into a smile. "I can!"

They said their goodbyes after that; Ichimon took hold of the egg and gave his thanks and well-wishings for the two - to succeed on their mission, and more directly, to find their friends again. Luke waved goodbye, and even Sampamon waved her tail in farewell.

The journey was far from over, but... there was at least one thing out of the way.


	33. Chapter 33: Madhouse

_A/N: NANOWRIMO GETS CRAP DONE. Holy crap, I think this is the longest chapter yet, _and_ I'm already almost done with the next chapter- will definitely be posting it about this time, next week. I'm only a few hundred words behind par for NaNoWriMo, but either way, this is kind of... helping me crank it out. Reviews are absolutely lovely and also the only payment I get for this (yeah, yeah, I know, cliche line), but it'd be fab if you could review~ Okay, enjoy, and see you with another update this time next week!_

* * *

><p>When Emily awoke, she found herself staring at not a dark sky, but a dark ceiling. She cracked one eye open, then rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. Kamomon stirred to wakefulness at the same time as she; not five feet away, Andrea and Rajamon were waking up as well. They seemed to be the only ones there, if this room was any indication.<p>

"Good morning," Emily mumbled, a bit sarcastically, looking out a dirty window close by. Outside, it was dark - though they had no way of knowing so, it was the same cloudy, dim sky that Luke (and, in fact, the other members of their team) were waking up to see at just about the same time. She frowned a bit, the corner of her mouth tugging down.

"I'm taking it that you just woke up, too?" Andrea said, taking her chance to look around the room. It was dark; one got the impression that even if one brought in flood lights, it would absorb the light into the walls and the wooden floors, and insistently stay dark. The room was empty as far as furniture went, but empty picture-frames hung here and there on the walls.

"Where are we?" Kamomon said, hopping up onto the windowsill and disturbing a cloud of dust as he landed. Out through the murky glass, he could see the tops of crooked trees and gnarled branches, framed by a smoky, inky mass of clouds through which faint moonlight was filtered, but not much else. There were mountains (or were they cliffs?) in one direction; larger trees sprang up in the other, standing tall and proud as they towered over the rest.  
>They were on the second - maybe even third - floor of a building; immediately outside the door, the trees came right up to the doorstep.<p>

"Well, wherever we are..." Andrea said, standing up and dusting herself off. "It's freakin' dark."

"Dark Woods?" Rajamon provided, hopping up onto his hind legs and placing his paws on the sill; Kamomon hopped backwards off to allot him the room, and flapped his wings to stay aloft. The tiger furrowed his brow, shaking his head. "And I thought it was just another one of his crazy coot stories. Go figure."

"I'm getting the impression that Crazy," (she meant Deekamon), "is right more often than not- no offense," Andrea said, putting her hand over on Rajamon's head and smoothing it down (it defiantly sprung back up into shape). He stuck his tongue out as he lowered his paws off the window sill.

Emily had already gotten up and moved over to the door; Kamomon was hot on her heels. The door solid and wooden, but looking very much out of use. Placing a hand on the ornate, tarnished brass knob, the younger girl gave it a hard twist and pull...

To absolutely no avail.

Kamomon tugged on her hand, a silent plea for her to move aside. She did so, and the bird stepped forward. He cracked his knuckles (wait, did he even have knuckles in those wing-hands of his?) and threaded his fingers together, clasping his hands together into a ball.  
>"<strong>Seagull Strike<strong>!" he cawed, lifting his hands above his head before bringing them down, hard, against the wood. Indeed, the door couldn't withstand the force; the moment his hands connected, it creaked and groaned as its rusty hinges began to break. It quickly surpassed its elastic limit and simply splintered before falling forward with a clatter into the hallway.

Behind them, Rajamon raised his eyebrows and grinned. "Score one for brute force."

"At the cost of structural integrity," Andrea added, her arms akimbo and an eyebrow of her own cocked, but she seemed nothing less than amused.

As a quartet, the four - two girls, bird, and cat - walked into the hall. Andrea looked one direction, whereas Emily looked the other. Either way they looked, it was virtually identical; a row of doors with poor lighting, dust motes hanging in the air above the unadorned wooden floors.

Andrea cocked her head, but refrained from commenting (likely a 'bit early for Halloween haunted houses, isn't it?' remark). She shook her head, sighing, looking down at Rajamon. "You notice anything I'm missing?"

The tiger looked back up at his partner and shook his head. "Unless you're missing the hallway I'm seeing, I'm gonna call it a no."

Emily furrowed her brow; Kamomon peered around the doorframe, but stepped out into the hall soon thereafter. Rajamon, not to be outdone, followed suit.

"Which way do we go?" the bird said, scratching the back of his head. Rajamon frowned, looking over his shoulder at Andrea and Emily. He couldn't give any response, though- they got an answer without anyone deciding on it, and his attention was decidedly occupied.  
>A familiar form faded into view at one end of the hall- short, impish, his neck surrounded by a ruff of blue, flame-like smoke. An obnoxious giggle echoed throughout the narrow passageway before Magoriamon cheerfully skirted away, taking a right turn.<p>

"Call me crazy, Andrea," Emily said, but she was speaking to the other girl's back already- she and Rajamon had taken off at a brisk pace in pursuit, and so the younger was forced to speak as she folowed. "But something tells me this is gonna be... um..." she gestured with one hand. "... a trick?"

"You don't say," Andrea said dryly, casting a look over her shoulder- there was a wry smile on her face. She shrugged, "But if I've learned anything, it's that if that lovely stain on our lives-thus-far has anything to do with where we are, trying to get out by conventional methods is going to be a dead-end."

"And moreover," Rajamon added, and flames rared up around his feet for just a moment, "I kind of just want to kick his stupid smoky face in."

"Can't argue with that," Kamomon chimed in. "I rather share the sentiment," he added with a sort of sheepish chuckle. After a moment of consideration, Emily nodded her assent, and they quickened their pace.

The two girls and their partners turned the corner, and what they were not expecting was for Magoriamon to be waiting there, just a turn away - not hiding, not-

"**Drowsy Smoke**!" the imp cackled, spreading his arms wide as the ruff of smoke around his neck flared up impressively, and he leaped at the quartet- and phased right through them, leaving them in a cloud.

... Crap.

"Hold your breath!" Kamomon squawked quickly - as though they needed to be told - throwing up his wings up to cover his nostrils and mouth the moment he was done speaking, but it was entirely too late.  
>Magoriamon's very image behind them dissolved into the same smoke, the sickly-sweet perfumed cloud hanging heavy in the air around them and seeping past any attempts to block it from their bodies.<p>

"Somehow, I am not surprised," Andrea mumbled, even as her eyelids began to feel like leaden weights.

* * *

><p>Rajamon awoke before his partner; he was, after all, a digimon, and thus slightly less-affected by the attack. He nudged his nose into Andrea's side, attempting to wake her. He could no longer see Kamomon or Emily - perhaps they had been moved elsewhere, but...<br>It didn't seem they were even in the same _place_- not even the same building they had fallen asleep in.

It was brighter-lit; the room was furnished, looked more lived-in. Rajamon's claws, even when they were retracted, got stuck in the shag carpeting; a bed was pushed up against one corner, left in disarray, as though its owner couldn't be convinced to make it; a small number of stuffed animals were sitting on the bedspread, a worn-out-looking tiger lying across the pillow. A bookshelf, lined with trinkets and books, was up against another wall, alongside a wooden desk across which notebooks were sprawled.  
>The walls were painted a pale blue, though faded band posters all but wallpapered the wall behind the bed. Sunlight was seeping in through a decent-sized window, the white curtains pulled back; outside was a suburb, not the dark woods they had found themselves gazing out over earlier. The room was a bit messy and unkempt; a backpack lay slung on the floor, its contents spilling out; clothes looked as though they were thrown in the general direction of the laundry basket, with varying degrees of success on the actual getting into it part. The closet door was open, revealing glimpses of the clothes within.<p>

This - all of this - had to be some sort of illusion- a trick on Magoriamon's part.

Rajamon would eat his golden necklace if it wasn't.

Andrea finally stirred, and she was about to groan- before she fell silent, staring at the ceiling fan. "Ohh, no no no no _no_," she mumbled, sitting up; she looked around frantically, calming down only when she laid eyes on the tiger sitting astride her, a concerned look on his furry face.

"It's an illusion," Rajamon said, nuzzling into her side. "Magoriamon."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Andrea said, placing a hand on the tiger's head.

"Where are we- or, where does it look like we are?" Rajamon said, furrowing his brow- but he already had a pretty good idea. He just wanted to confirm it. Andrea frowned, but let loose a sigh, getting to her feet.

"I'm guessing his illusion crap is just playing on my memories," she said, slowly, thoughtfully, "because I don't think he'd have any way to know what my room looked like otherwise." Rajamon could almost hear her heart sinking as she said the words. The girl looked around.  
>Everything was where it was when she was plucked out of her life- she had been lying on her bed when her phone had buzzed, and almost automatically she went over and sat down on it. Rajamon leapt up alongside her.<p>

Andrea lied down on the bed (Rajamon quickly moved to sprawl across her stomach, like an over-large cat- which he was). She took her D-GEAR out of her pocket, holding it above her head- it was still, in fact, a D-GEAR, and moreover, when she pushed a button it functioned normally. Just another layer of confirmation that they were still in the Digital World.  
>This was entirely too surreal. But how could she wake up out of it? She realized she had no idea how to disperse the annoying smoky imp's illusions outside of smashing his face in- Rajamon seemed to be thinking the same. But... there was something about it. Just the feeling of seeming to be home was... ... well, it wasn't a comfort. But to lie on her own bed for just a minute had some appeal.<br>She cocked her head, looking towards the door. There were voices outside. Her mouth twitched.

She wouldn't get anything done just lying here.

"Come on," she said, pulling herself up and hopping off the bed. "Let's... try to figure out what's going on."

She just wondered if Emily was having the same sort of experience.

* * *

><p>Kamomon awoke, too, earlier than Emily did; also like Rajamon, he found himself in a bedroom rather akin to the one in which his feline comrade awoke in. However, this one was fastidiously tidy. The bed was lofted a few feet off the ground, and was in freshly-made condition- or it would have been if Emily wasn't unconscious on it. The floor was wooden, though bright rugs covered much of it. There was a wardrobe against one of the walls, and a mirror was affixed to it; there were pieces of paper taped thereupon. One wall of the room was predominantly taken up by large windows, covered by blue curtains; the bright morning light, then, was actually coming from a <em>skylight<em>, fastened into a sloping ceiling.

The walls were painted in a pale shade of seafoam green, but they were almost entirely covered up - the three walls that weren't taken up by windows, that is - by posters; there was even one on the back of the painted-white door. Kamomon tilted his head, looking at them quizzically; he could not, in fact, read the words on them, but the designs were striking, and he hopped up onto a wooden desk to look at one closer. He frowned, tilting his head the other direction. None of this made any sense.

The bird was startled out of his reverie by Emily stirring behind him; he immediately looked over his shoulder at the slightest sound.

The girl looked around, sleepily; for a moment, nothing was odd. When she realized, however, where she was, she suddenly yelped, looking around frantically. She didn't immediately see Kamomon standing on her desk; she was... back in her room, everything looked exactly the same as it had. All the posters, all of her belongings. Had everything, the digital world, been a lie, a dream, a-  
>"Emily, what's wrong!?" Kamomon squawked, hopping off the desk and flapping over to his partner's bed. She stared at him for a moment, as though she didn't recognize him, before she let out what was almost a dry sob of relief, dragging the bird into a hug.<p>

"Oh, thank _god_," she murmured, but smiled a bit sheepishly a second later. "I- that was a bit of a shocker."

Kamomon smiled back, nodding his head. "Is this... your room?" he asked, looking around. Emily leaned back on her hands, nodding. "It's nice!"

"I... ... do you think this is Magoriamon's... thing?" Emily said, after a moment, turning to throw her legs to hang over the side of the bed.  
>They weren't going to be fooled any more than Andrea and Rajamon were.<p>

Kamomon paused, then groaned and slapped his forehead with a wing. "I can't believe I didn't think of that." He frowned, looking out the window. "But if that's so, then how are we supposed to get out? I mean, if realizing it's an illusion doesn't do the trick..."

Emily sighed, hopping from her bed to the floor. "I guess we should... look around. See if we can find any hints, or leads, or... maybe, I donno, if we can find the others?"

Kamomon nodded his head, puffing up his feathers as he hopped off the bed, but flapped his wings to stay aloft. "Before we go, though," he said, and nodded his heads towards the posters on the walls. "What do those say?"

Emily paused, then blushed a bit. "Oh. Um... they're nothing. Just posters for... shows. Musicals. It's silly. Don't worry about them." Kamomon tilted his head, curious, but nodded, following as Emily walked towards the door.

* * *

><p>As Andrea and Rajamon stepped out into the hall, Andrea found herself disconcerted a bit - it was, exactly, her house. Outside of her room, the (frankly ripe) smell of Magoriamon's smoke was faint but noticable.<p>

As if they needed any more confirmation.

Andrea clicked the button on her D-GEAR, flipping through until she found the map. A second dot blipped on and off very close-by- she could only presume it was Emily's digivice signal. "We can start by trying to find Em and Kamomon," Andrea surmised, pocketing the device, and Rajamon nodded. Carefully, the two began to walk down the hallway. It was a bit dark, but Andrea could likely have maneuvered it with closed eyes.

"Wonder how he's doing it," she said, frowning. "Changing the layout of the house to fit the vision?"

"He could do it with the proxy cave," Rajamon proposed. "I don't suppose it's that big a stretch?"

"I suppose," Andrea said after a moment, frowning and shaking her head. "It just unnerves me a bit."

Though it was familiar territory to one half of the duo, girl and feline both walked with some degree of trepidation. There was no telling, after all, what - if anything - the illusion imp would throw in for the sake of tripping them up.  
>But perhaps the most disconcerting thing he could have done was what he did. They turned a corner, walking into a dining room slash kitchen, and... two adults were sitting, talking over newspapers, relaxing- at complete leisure. Both bore a striking resemblance to Andrea herself - same skin-tone, same dark hair, even some of the same facial features.<p>

Nothing odd at all.

Except to Andrea, who sighed and shook her head. "This is just low," she murmured, lowering her eyes. Rajamon looked up at her, concerned- confused. Even so, she added a totally flat, "Hi, dad."

"It's good to see you're finally up, Andry," said the adult man, causing Andrea to clench her fists. "We'd thought you'd just about died in there." He laughed; the woman laughed. It didn't sound natural- didn't sound real.

Andrea shook her head, as though trying to shake away something that was buzzing around her head, but she said nothing. There was a heavy silence hanging in the air, thick enough to cut it with a knife.

Slowly, almost zombie-like, she walked up and took a seat at the table; she put her elbows on the table, folded her hands in front of her face. She pointedly ignored the disapproving look that the woman - her mother? - gave her. Rajamon hopped up into the chair next to his partner, sitting up and putting his paws on the table for balance.

Andrea's parents didn't notice him at all- and considering he was a two-foot-tall talking tiger cub, it was hard not to find this at least a _little_ strange.

For a few minutes, it was quiet, silent almost except for the sounds of breathing and the man flipping pages of the newspaper.

"Andrea, I really think you-" it was when the woman began to speak that the girl lost her composure- it was a flood, a rubber-band suddenly breaking under stress. It as though it had been wound up bit by bit, and this was the final twist too much.

"Shut _up_!" she snapped the moment the voice hit her ears, digging her fingers into her hair, hands clasped over her ears. Rajamon looked over at her, but he found no words of his own. He didn't know what was going on- only could see the discomfort and pain on his partner's face.

"That's no way to speak to your-" her mother began to speak again, but Andrea shook her head more violently, turning 'shut up' into a chant, a mantra. She was almost threatening to tear her hair out by the way she held to it.

"Andrea! _Andrea_!" Rajamon's voice cut through the muffling force of her hands. She looked next to her, and the tiger's big blue eyes were looking right back at her, an uncertain expression etched across his face.

Wordlessly, Andrea pushed her chair away from the table and stood up, all but stomping her way back into the hallway. Rajamon was hot on her heels, of course.

"Your mother - at least, I'm guessing that's who she is - was just starting to say something, that's all! What's going on? " The tiger implored, frowning.

"No, you're not wrong, she's my mom- or, she was- they're- my parents, they're... This isn't real, this isn't right, this is-" she lowered her hands; she looked back over her shoulder, towards the room they were just in. She was shaking, just lightly, and leaned against the wall for balance.  
>Her parents- obstensibly, but...<br>"This is low of him," she spat, after a moment of consideration, once again clenching her hands into fists even as they fell to her sides.

This... gave no clarity of the situation to Rajamon, and so he merely tilted his head up at his partner.

"Rajamon," Andrea said after a moment- the idea bulb over her head was all but visible. "I need you to attack them."

"What?" the tiger blurted, cocking an eyebrow. "Is the smoke going to your head, 'Drea?"

Andrea shook her head; Rajamon still looked skeptical, so she gave her reasoning. "His illusions have been stronger when he's working on just projecting one thing - like the digimon in the Floating Ruins." She paused for confirmation, and Rajamon nodded. "But when he has to put effort into an area, too, it's broken easily- the rabbit thing in the proxy cave. Once bunny-boy got a good hit on it, the entire thing went up in smoke- pardon the pun."

Rajamon turned this over in his head for a few seconds, thinking it through. "I... suppose you're right. And... they're just illusions, yeah? So I guess there's not much harm to be done..."

"Especially since I'm betting money that he's splitting his attention to create an illusion for Emily, too," Andrea added.

Rajamon looked back over his shoulder, and nodded. "I'm in, then." A pause. "You owe me an explanation, though."

"Of course."

With that, the two walked back out of the hallway- the fake parents, of course, only noted Andrea upon their return.

"Andrea, are you alright?" the woman - the illusory mother - said.

"Now," Andrea murmured, fists clenched, and Rajamon nodded his assent.

"**Fire Dash**!" Rajamon exclaimed, bounding forward. The long fur on his head, limbs, and tail suddenly ignitited in plumes of fire. With a few long strides, he closed the distance between himself and the table at which the (quasi) humans were seated, and threw himself straight into them, flaming paws first.

Exactly as Andrea had predicted (thankfully), the moment that the tiger made contact with them, they dissipated into mist- and the room around them began to do the same. Before they disappeared, the once-human forms reared back into shadowy shapes, all glowing eyes and sharp teeth before they - pardonning the pun - went up in smoke.

Within seconds, they found themselves standing in a large, empty room - much like the one the members of the little group had found themselves in upon thier awakening, only greater in size. Dark, poorly lit, musty- but real (or at least as real as things got in the Digital World).

"About that explanation," Rajamon said after a brief moment of silence - as though they were waiting for another image to appear. When none did, Andrea sighed and shook her head.

The tiger looked up, expectant; Andrea was about to make a remark about having to find the other two, first, but the look on her partner's face made her think twice about trying to dodge the issue. She walked forward and sat down alongside her partner, cross-legged on the dusty floor. In turn, he too plopped down, placing his paws on her legs and on her lap.

"When I was a litte kid- like, when I wasn't even five... my mom died." She sighed, and Rajamon only looked at her; he said nothing, but didn't need to. "She was really sick. And my dad would always tell her, when we visited her, to be brave and keep fighting it."

She sighed, rubbing the back of her head.

"After she... went, he started telling it to me, instead. To be brave and keep fighting it. I don't think he's ever really gotten over it," she remarked, turning her head and looking out the window and placing a head absentmindedly on Rajamon's head. "But the words kinda stuck with me. Obviously."

"Yeah, you borderline tackled Deekamon the first time you saw him," Rajamon said, putting his head down on Andrea's lap. "If that's not brave and fighting, I donno what is."

"But... so it felt wrong, to see her again. She's not supposed to be here. I can't shake the feeling that it's just Magoriamon trying to screw us up, y'know?"

"I understand," Rajamon said. He nuzzled his head against her arm for a few seconds, and said nothing. A few moments later, he got to his feet. Together, they walked out - the door, this time, opened freely, letting them step into the hall.  
>"So I'm going to propose we should go look for Emily and Kamomon?" the tiger said; the girl nodded.<p>

A flash of light later, Baghamon stood in Rajamon's place; he bowed his head, and Andrea climbed onto his back.

* * *

><p>Emily poked her head out of her room carefully, but just like Andrea, was taken aback more than anything at simply how... precise... it was. It was just like home.<p>

Right down to the loud, mediocre music blaring from two rooms down and the sound of incessant talking from the next room over. She sighed and closed her eyes, smiling a bit. It was nothing if not familiar, but Kamomon took it with a little less in the way of nostalgia.

"It's loud!" he squawked, clapping his wings to his head and cringing.

"It's home," Emily provided, but nodded. "It'll be quieter downstairs. Those are just my brother and sister. You get used to it."

Kamomon nodded his head, following his human partner. Right in front of her room was a staircase leading downstairs; it turned at a 90 degree angle to the left, and opened up into a comfortably (if a bit messily) furnished living-room. A couch that looked well-sat-upon; a scattering of DVD and video-game cases strewn across cases and the floor around a large TV. It... looked like a family lived there, in short.

Emily heaved a heavy sigh, smiling faintly. In the middle of all the chaos and running around, dimension-hopping, worrying about the megalomaniac with the powers of a god... just being in a familiar space could mean wonders.  
>Even if that sick, sweet smell insisted on lingering.<p>

For a moment, the girl merely stood, looking around. She walked towards the front door - a few steps down a short hallway from the mouth of the staircase; she gave the knob a hard turn and a pull, to no avail.

"I'm going to guess I shouldn't do what I did last time?" Kamomon said, smiling; Emily smiled back, but said nothing, as any further discussion was cut short by the clattering of footsteps charging down the stairs nearby.

Two people - teenagers, by the looks of them - had come down the stairs. In the lead was a boy - shorter than the other, with glasses perched on the bridge of his nose and a wolfish smile on his features; despite his height, he looked a year or two older than the girl behind him. She, meanwhile, was tall and this, with spiky and chopped-short hair. Both of them had hair similar in shade to the un-bleached parts of Emily's, and scrutiny would reveal some less blatant similarities.

Instinctively, Kamomon flapped his wings and put himself between Emily and them - not for fear that the people themselves (so to speak) were dangerous, but that they were not themselves- they were images, created by Magoriamon, children of smoke, and thus-

They seemed to look straight through him, as though the bird wasn't even there.

In fact - though they had no way to compare this point - unlike the visions in Rajamon and Andrea's illusion, they didn't even seem to see the girl herself. They barrelled past the pair, taking a sharp left turn from the stairs and towards the kitchen.

"What in the name of the Tree was _that_?" Kamomon mumbled, dropping to the floor and looking up at his partner.

"Those were the siblings I mentioned a minute ago," Emily said with a half-smile, shrugging and moving to follow after them.

"Is it normal of them to ignore you like that?" Kamomon said, a frown tugging at his beak, shuffling to catch up and walk alongside the girl.

Emily considered for a minute, but then she nodded. "It's not _odd_, at least. They looked like they were in a hurry, after all. But I'm just kinda... like, hung up? On why they didn't see you."

The bird looked at his partner quizically. They continued walking; after a minute, Kamomon quickened his pace. He looked over his shoulder at Emily, who had a sort of surprised look. "Let's see if we can figure anything out, yeah?"

She smiled and nodded.

They soon entered the kitchen, the door swinging behind them. It was a bit cramped, but comfortable; sliding glass doors led out onto a low deck, beyond which The teenagers were sitting at a table, as was a middle-aged man, a bit heavier-set. A woman, blonde, was milling about over the stove, the smell of bacon wafting through the air. All four were talking, but their words were muffled and unclear, as though spoken through a pillow.

"Ma?" Emily tried, but there was no response- it was like her words died in the air. She reached her hand out, but drew it back, closing it into a loose fist. Kamomon was looking up at her, his face inscrutiable.

Through the haze, they could suddenly hear the boy speak loud and clear:  
>"Em's been gone a while, hasn't she?"<br>There was actually a hint of concern in his voice.

"Huh. Seems so," the man said, giving no indication of any emotion. "What's the plan for today?"

Without a moment of hesitation, without even being instructed, Kamomon suddenly surged forward, opening his beak wide.  
>"<strong>Ocean Blast<strong>!" he cawed, a jet of high-pressure water escaping his mouth and hitting the man.

"Kamomon, wait!" Emily said, but...

Almost immediately, he - and the entire scene around them - began to dissolve into smoke. Just like Andrea's, the human forms suddenly surged into monstrous forms for a split second before dissipating, and then...

They were in a room back in the mansion- dark and musty and no hint of the sweet smell hanging in the air.  
>Kamomon had a hundred questions spinning around in his feathery head; he chose not to vocalize them, merely walking over and reaching up to grab his partner's hand with his own wing, nodding with a smile.<p>

Besides that, any conversation they could have had was cut short by the sudden phasing in of a shape in front of the window.  
>Magoriamon was suddenly sitting there on the sill, cross-legged, arms folded, the smoke around his collar causing the little light drifting in through the glass to become distorted. "You like what you see?" the imp said conversationally. "Your friend certainly did." He pointed to Kamomon at these words.<p>

Once more, Kamomon threw himself in front of his partner; Emily, however, picked the bird up into her arms. "You have a pretty sorry sense of humor," she said, trying to sound more confident than she really was.

Magoriamon splayed his hands out; despite the unchanging expression on the mask that covered his face, it was clear he was trying his best to look hurt. "I'm offended," he said, voice like poisoned honey. "If you saw it, it was from your own little head." He tapped the side of his own head with one finger to illustrate the point. "So don't go blaming me. I'm just the _weaver of dreams_, after all."  
>They could hear the grin behind the mask.<p>

"Maybe it's just me," Kamomon said, as Emily set him back on the ground, and he clenched his hands into fists, "but I'm really getting tired of you wasting our time."

On cue, Emily's D-GEAR began to glow, Kamomon following its cue.

"Kamomon, kickstart digivolve to... Kaizokumon!"

Now closer to his opponent's size, the pirate bird digimon drew his pistol. He was not fast enough, however; the second the light faded, Magoriamon began to cackle, standing up.

"Well, then, this is a poor battlefield, wouldn't you say?"  
>Just like that, Magoriamon stood up and drifted out of the room, phasing through the door effortlessly. Without even a cue, Kaizokumon ran towards the door and smashed his elbow into it, bringing it down without even the need for a formal attack.<p>

"Quick, now," the bird said, looking over his shoulder, but he needn't have done so; the second the door was down, Emily was in hot pursuit of the imp, moving past her Adult-level partner. "... perhaps not that quick," he mumbled, but grinned, long strides carrying him after her partner- and Magoriamon.

* * *

><p>Trying to follow Magoriamon through the halls was like trying to solve a maze with no way of tracking where they'd been. It took hours. Turns and turnarounds abound- and well before Emily and Kaizokumon caught up with their target, they met up with some allies, instead.<p>

The giant red tiger with a girl on his back was a mite hard to miss.

Emily - on Baghamon's invitation - scrambled up onto the cat's back, while Kaizokumon ran ahead of them - being more agile in the relatively small space.

"Gonna feed that stupid blue elf his own rear end," Andrea had remarked, more to herself than anything; Emily chuckled.

"I think Kaizokumon's got a bid on that, too, sorry to say."

A turn around one corner led them feeding out into a foyer, with long curved staircases curling down in either direction; down in the middle of the floor, Magoriamon hovered, waiting, casual. He had chosen his arena.

Further behind Magoriamon stood Epidemon. He was leaning his back against the heavy wooden door, arms folded and stance even more casual than his underling's. He looked up as the two girls and their partners arrived, and chuckled. "Shame we couldn't distract you any longer than we did, isn't it?" the Mega-level said, mocking looking at a watch. "Why, you were only sleep for a good night's worth before Magoriamon set up the illusions. Tsk-tsk."

"Why is it your plans seem to be nothing but time-sinks?" Baghamon growled; the girls climbed off his back. Without waiting, he suddenly threw himself over the railing, smashing into the floor below, in front of Magoriamon. (The wood began to creak and crack where he landed.) Kaizokumon leapt down after him, landing far lighter than the large feline.

"Why, that's for me to know," Epidemon said, gesturing to himself, "and you to find out. I suggest you ask the traitor. He should be the closest by now, I believe..."

Magoriamon snickered.

"But first, I'm going to let you deal with Magoriamon. Make it entertaining," Epidemon said, leaning back casually again, as though he were in fact awaiting a show.

"You got it, lad," Kaizokumon replied gruffly, lunging forward and towards Magoriamon. Within the space of one step, he drew his pistol from its holder.

"**Flintlock Shock**!" he squawked, sending a round of glowing bullets towards Magoriamon. Even though they were blinding fast and shot and an increasingly short distance, the bird's target effortlessly feinted out of the way.  
>Before Kaizokumon had a second to realize what was going on, Magoriamon lifted one leg high and slashed down with his sharp-clawed feet, sending the pirate tumbling to the side.<p>

Baghamon took this chance, rearing down as light began to gather in the jewels on his necklace.  
>"<strong>Tiger Gem<strong>!" he said, the light released from the jewels and firing as a shot at Magoriamon, flickering like fire.

Magoriamon was too preoccupied, following through on his previous attack, to dodge out of the way of this one, and yelped in a most undignified manner, blown back a bit by the attack. Frail, for a Perfect-level.  
>He looked at Epidemon; the bird-faced Mega said nothing, but shook his head just once. Magoriamon growled, looking back at the two, and his eyes narrowed behind his mask.<p>

"**Room of Mirrors**!" the illusonist cried, spreading his hands out- and then there were a considerable amount more of him. The two humans, above the battle, could make a quick estimate of a total of eight copies of Magoriamon- in addition to the original, rounding to a total of nine.

"Cute parlor trick," Baghamon rumbled, smirking. "But parlor tricks don't win battles."

Taunted on by his statement, a few of the copies descended upon the feline, taking advantage of their numbers to hit and get away, lashing out on Baghamon and backing off before he had the chance to strike out in return.

The other copies had the same idea, taking their chance to perform the same kind of assualt on Kaizokumon; being smaller, it was harder for them to get a hit on, but they were able to more easily toss the pirate bird around, preventing him from getting a chance simply by battering him back and forth.

And again, those above had a vantage point.

"The real one's staying back!" Andrea called, cupping her hands over her mouth. Baghamon nodded and snarled, looking up- indeed, one was keeping well back from the others.  
>Baghamon snarled, batting a few away and thrashing his tails to keep the copies at bay; Kaizokumon planted his feet hard on the ground and leapt into the air. Using this afforded time, they called their attacks:<p>

"**Tiger Gem**!"

"**Flintlock Shock**!"

But when these attacks connected... the Magoriamon they contacted merely faded into sweet-smelling, dark blue smoke.

It was a copy- taking advantage of the partner pair's surprise, the copies began to laugh and attack more fiercely.

"That's enough!" Baghamon snarled, being knocked to the ground by a particularly harsh strike to the side. "**Fire Cyclone**!"  
>He thrashed his body until he got free, then proceeded to bulldoze his body into the copies, leaving fire in his wake. They yelped and screeched, and before long they were engulfed in a cyclone of fire. Puffs of blue smoke joined the smoke that the fire left behind naturally, before the flames dyed down- perhaps amusingly, leaving the wooden floors blackened but intact.<p>

Kaizokumon followed suit; he reared down before calling an attack of his own:  
><strong>Kaizoku Kick<strong>!"  
>His foot glowing with energy, the bird delivered a hard roundhouse kick to the imps around him, leading them all to go up in the same blue smoke as those that had antagonized Rajamon.<p>

... wait a moment.

"Very good!" Magoriamon snickered, clapping, stepping back in- phasing through the ornate wooden front door. The real one had ducked out of the way in the chaos and confusion- unseen.

"Time for a bit of well-deserved karma," Baghamon growled, getting to his feet- he was a bit battered up, truth be told, even if his pride wouldn't let him admit it.

"That won't be necessary," Epidemon said suddenly. Magoriamon turned around, confused, as Epidemon continued speaking. "Don't you worry, kiddos. I'm done wasting your time, after all. We've got more important things to do. You know, lives to ruin, plots to advance, digimon to take care of-"

With that, Epidemon slowly closed a bony hand around his underling's head.  
>A surprised, gurgling scream and a flash of light later, and there was a digitama in his hand instead of a minion. He tilted his head when the girls above let out yells of surprise, Baghamon began to growl low in his throat, and Kaizokumon let loose a low screeching squawk.<p>

"I don't need his help anymore. He was starting to get lazy," Epidemon explained as though it could be no simpler than that- but the tone in his voice said he clearly relished in their surprise.  
>"Have fun finding your friends." He turned the digitama over in his hand, and shrugged. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you guys don't want it, so I'll keep it. Might be useful later. Or might not. Not my problem."<p>

With a swirl of his coat, Epidemon turned and forced the heavy carved wooden door open. He left it open behind him, and a soft wind blew in.

There was a heavy silence, before Baghamon spat in disgust.

"They keep wasting our time," he growled, "and then he can't even let us get the satisfaction of taking down his minion."

Emily and Andrea reached the ground level, hurdling down the staircases; Kaizokumon gave his partner a one-armed (winged?) hug, while Baghamon nuzzled his head against Andrea's side. "We are going to trash his _face_," Emily assured.

But... first, they had to find their friends.

They slowly, carefully, walked out the door. Outside, it was darker than it was inside. This time, they walked slowly, carefully. The tiger led the way with Kaizokumon following. It wasn't hard to see why; when Baghamon tramped through the tree and brush, he made a nice path to follow.  
>Luckily, this search wasn't long. One quick D-GEAR map inspection later revealed a trio of flashing dots straight ahead<p>

... almost immediately ahead.

Because of the low light, they very nearly, and quite literally, ran straight into Faris and Delfinimon; along with him were Toby and Julian, each with their respective partners. They were seated in a small clearing, looking as though they had just been through a bit of a... scuffle... of their own.

However, it was Faris that mumbled (once he had his bearings, and had gotten over his near-trampling at Baghamon's paws), "Looks like you guys have been having fun."

"You have no freaking idea," Andrea replied, sighing.


	34. Chapter 34: Got Your Back

_A/N: I'M SO BEHIND OH GOD OH GOD I need to hammer out 4000 words today so I'm just gonna chuck this on up and then get back to work. Enjoy, review if you love me, etc etc~_

* * *

><p>By now, it would be redundant to remark upon the darkness of the sky when Faris cracked his eyes open, and that he found himself peering up at a foggy, dim sky. However, this was indeed the sight that he awoke to find.<br>Well, _that_, and a big dolphin nose that obscured half of his vision, with big purple eyes settled behind the shnozz, peering down at him.

"Good morning, yeom!"

"Oh _god_, get off me, you weigh a ton!" Faris exclaimed, shoving Delfinimon off his chest. The dolphin tumbled off and onto the dark, loamy soil in the least dignified manner possible.

A quick look around revealed... a forest. With extremely poor lighting. He was in the thick of it, though the brush and debris on a small portion of the ground had apparently been cleared away.

"You're awake?" Toby's voice said from a few feet away, where he was seated on a fallen log. Lammon was seated alongside him, at his feet.

"Something like that," Faris replied with a nod, rubbing his head as he sat up. "What's going on?"

"We got... separated, again," the younger boy said, playing with the hems of his sleeves. "I donno where the others are. They're not showing up on the D-GEAR radar-"

"D-GEAR unit," Delfinimon and Lammon corrected in unison, in low tones. It was automatic at this point. Toby smiled, rubbing the back of his head.

Faris sighed, getting to this feet. "Fan-freakin'-tastic. Now all that's left is for us to be attacked by wolves."  
>On cue, the dark bushes began to rustle; Faris nearly jumped out of his skin with a yelp of, "I didn't <em>mean it<em>!" However, the two digimon and Toby turned calmly. Emerging from the brush was Iguamon, a few pieces of terrafruit gripped in his claws.

Iguamon raised an eyebrow at Faris' reaction, but was unfazed as ever.  
>"You're awake? That's good," the dinosaur remarked in his usual laconic way (as usual), face impassive (as usual). He held the fruits up. "Found food."<br>He tossed a terrafruit over to Faris and Delfinimon; the boy split it more-or-less in half, handing one half to the dolphin aside him. A few feet away, Toby did the same with the fruit the dinosaur handed him, granting half of it to the lamb at his feet.

Iguamon, for his part, also split his in half, but walked over to a tree close-by; Faris hadn't noticed, in the dim light and confusion of waking up here, that a familiar shape was propped against the tree. Julian, arms folded and head bowed, was asleep.

"He woken up yet?" Faris asked, his gaze lingering on his brother before looking at Delfinimon; she nodded her head.

"You're a waking-up slowpoke, yeom. He was the first of any of you to wake up, so he's just asleep. He was up a pretty good time before either of you two," the dolphin mused, before gracelessly face-planting into her half of their fruit. (She'd likely excuse it as the fact that she didn't have hands; really, this way was simply much more entertaining.)

Faris rolled his eyes. "So I'm going to take a totally wild guess here," he said, looking at Toby and Lammon, "and say that we have no idea where anyone else is?"

Toby shook his head. "Afraid not," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I only woke up a little while ago, myself..." he mumbled, leaning back on his seat on the log. "But like I said, there's nothing on the map, so... I donno..." He trailed off, shrugging one shoulder a bit resignedly. Lammon nuzzled his hand.

They ate in relative quiet; Lammon and Toby talked quietly, as did Faris and Delfinimon, while Iguamon was remarkbly tight-lipped the entire time.

As soon as he was done with his portion of his fruit, Iguamon gently shook his partner's shoulder with one clawed hand. A frown tugged at Julian's mouth and he shifted away from the motion, before cracking an eye open to look at his saurian partner. "Thanks," he mumbled, taking the fruit offered to him.

Julian lifted his head, seeing both Toby and Faris awake. "Morning," he drawled, a bit sarcastically. It was still as dark as it had been; Iguamon had mentioned that it likely would be, and the prediction didn't disappoint.  
>It was hard to see in the low light, but there were dark circles under his eyes; however much sleep he had gotten, it had clearly not been enough.<br>"I miss anything?"

"They just woke up," Lammon provided, standing up and stretching her limbs out.

"And we haven't been killed in the night. ... day. Whatever it is, yeom!" Delfinimon added cheerfully, gaining her a _look_ from Faris - and a bop on the head. He stood up, scooping the dolphin into his arms.

"Optimistic," Toby said with a small smile, getting to his feet.

Julian was the last to stand, still clearly tired. "I'd like to waste as little time as possible in trying to re-join the group," he said, stretching out his arms above his head; he was half-propping himself up with the tree he had been sitting against. "If none of you object, we should get moving."  
>Toby nodded a couple times, face half-buried in his hood; Faris threw a mock salute with one arm. (Of note: he nearly dropped Delfinimon, but she held tight to his remaining arm and he held her fast.)<p>

"If you don't think you're gonna fall asleep on the way, broski," Faris added after a minute. Julian rolled his eyes in reply.

* * *

><p>The group of six was predominantly led by Julian. There was a sort of uncomfortable, ill at ease air about the little group; there wasn't a whole lot of conversation. The oldest of the group was clearly running on entirely too little sleep, and the youngest seemed a bit uncomfortable- quieter than usual.<br>As for Faris, hanging a bit back?  
>Faris just felt like he was missing something.<p>

"What's the deal, Tobes McGrobes?" Faris mumbled to Toby after a while, quickening his pace a bit to catch up with the shorter boy.

"Hmm?" Toby said, looking up to meet his eyes.

"Hi, yeom," Delfinimon- who, being in Faris' arms, was more on-level with Toby's face - said; the shorter smiled a bit, then returned to looking up at Faris. "What's up?"

"I am totally missing something," Faris said, rubbing the back of his neck and putting one hand in his pocket as they walked. "Has Jules been acting weird, or is it just me?"

Toby shrugged one shoulder. "I've only seen as much as you," he said, frowning a bit and coughing into his sleeve. "He does seem a bit... preoccupied, though."

Well, that was a big fat _no help at all_. Faris sighed but then shook his head, biting back the frustration welling in his mind; it wasn't Toby's fault if he had no idea what was going on either.  
>He just didn't figure he was going to get much in the way of an answer by asking Julian himself.<p>

And so they continued on. Eventually, they had walked far enough that Faris saw fit to set Delfinimon down ("my arms are starting to hurt- you need to walk off the weight"). The dolphin then actually took advantage of her lower vantage point.

"What's going on, yeom?" she asked, quietly, of Lammon and Iguamon; the dinosaur and sheep looked at eachother, but said nothing. Delfinimon furrowed her brow and put on her best annoyed face. "You guys kept talking like something was gonna go wrong before any of them even woke up, and I don't like being left out of the loop. Yeom."

Lammon let loose a sigh, and nodded with a bit of over-dramatic resignedness. "Do you remember when we were all separated back in the Deep Jungle?"

"'Course. That was when birdy boy and I played flyswatter, yeom." Delfinimon tilted her head. "What of it? Something happen with you guys?"

"Keep your voice down," Iguamon admonished; he waited a second, and Delfinimon mimed zipping her lip. Only once she did, he continued. "Julian is... driven, you could say. To protect his brothers." It didn't register to Delfinimon that the dinosaur had said _brothers_- plural.

"I think Julian can't shake the association," Lammon supposed. "A sort of big brother instinct."

Delfinimon raised her brow (still not having caught on to the plural). "We're talkin' about the same Toby and Faris, right? Meek little shorty and Sir Faris of the Sarcasm Court, yeom?"

Iguamon fixed the dolphin with one of his signature unreadable looks. "I will explain it once the humans go to sleep. I don't want to be the harbringer of the news in case we are overheard, nor do I want your reaction to give too much away." He spoke low, quiet; Delfinimon had to strain to hear him.

* * *

><p>The small group continued; eventually, they reached the edge of a small clearing - it was smaller than the one in which Luke and Sampamon would, the next night, face down with Forbidramon, but still decently sized.<br>Little did they know that just beyond the trees, the mansion in which Andrea and Emily were having their... experiences... sat nestled in the dark.

However, they indeed had no way of knowing this; as it was, when they settled down, Julian mumbled something (half asleep) about getting back on the move as soon as they all woke up.  
>The oldest boy was asleep moments afterwards, after Iguamon helped him manuever into a half-comfortable position.<p>

Toby was quick to follow, and Faris was hot on the heels of sleep; none of them were in any mood to stay up any longer.

"So it's _you owe me an explanation_ time," Delfinimon said, as soon as she was sure that the others were asleep. Lammon gave one last inspection of her partner before she nodded, walking forward to sit next to Delfinimon, who in turn was next to Iguamon. They were seated a few feet away from where their partners slept, and making sure to keep an eye on the environment around them.

In quiet tones, the dinosaur and sheep explained to the dolphin what had been learned back in the Jungle - of Julian's (and by extension, Faris') half-brother. Delfinimon was taken aback.

"... okay, wow," she said after a moment, blinking a couple times. "And Far' doesn't know about this kiddo?" Lammon shook her head, and Delfinimon groaned.

"Toby reminds Julian of Seth. He's still trying to come to terms with that, and I doubt he's having the best of times coming to terms with the protective instinct," Iguamon surmised; Lammon looked at him, quirking an eyebrow.

"He's told you that?"

Iguamon looked at Lammon out of the corner of his eye, and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards as he shook his head. "He doesn't need to. We understand each other."

"If only any of the _rest_ of us did, yeom," Delfinimon grumbled, looking over at where Julian was sleeping. "I don't think any of us actually understands what's on his mind ninety percent of the time."

Iguamon shrugged. "I don't understand your partners and they do talk all the time - some more than others," the dinosaur said, casting a look over at Faris; Delfinimon grinned. "We're here to help and understand them, and them, the same to us. We'll do it in the ways that suit us."

Lammon nodded, before sitting up and stretching out. "That said, I'd like to sleep now, if that's alright?" she said with a gentle smile; Iguamon gave a 'hmm' of agreement, and Delfinimon nodded.

"Good night, yeom," Delfinimon chirruped as they each parted and went alongside their partners. Lammon curled herself gently over Toby's midsection, like a living woolly blanket; Iguamon sat down next to Julian, eyes closed and body still as a rock almost immediately.

Delfinimon, for her part, dragged herself over to Faris, and lay down by throwing herself gracelessly over his lap, backwards, so she was facing up towards the sky.

"Careful, there," Faris mumbled, smiling and cracking one eye open; Delfinimon grinned back up at him, but she mentally faltered- at that moment, she understood something without words.  
>Faris hadn't fallen asleep before the trio of digimon had begun talking.<p>

* * *

><p>It was... some time after they went to sleep. Time was hard to get a bearing on; for the sake of convenience, they called it 'morning'. The little group was gaining their bearings, working out the aches and preparing for returning to the trek.<p>

"The lighting here bites," Faris said, stretching his arms over his head.

"Weirder things have happened in the Digital World," Toby said, smiling faintly, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"... In the past week or so, yeom."

None of the other four noticed Iguamon looking up at Julian and then pointedly looking off in another direction, his eyes flicking as though to indicate something. The eldest boy followed his partner's gaze, and silently nodded.

"You ready to go?" Julian said a minute later, putting his hands in his pockets and looking over his shoulder.

"Mmhm," Toby said with a nod.

"Aye aye, captain," Faris drawled, throwing a half-hearted mock salute. "Lead us unto our untimely deaths!"

"Whatever willing, I won't," Julian replied, and it was hard to tell whether or not the statement was made in humor or not. "Iguamon said he saw something off this way. If it's hostile, we've got it handled."

Faris was about to say something - as was Toby - but they had no chance to speak before the eldest and his partner had already walked into the trees and fallen out of sight. Faris shrugged, putting his arms akimbo and acting offended, before he picked Delfinimon up.

"Getting a freakin' workout, here, carrying her fat tail everywhere," he said off-handedly to Toby, and Delfinimon stuck her tongue out defiantly.

"And yet, he keeps on carrying me. All I'm saying is that I've got a sweet gig here, yeom."

Toby smiled, buring the bottom of his face into his hood as they began to follow after Julian.  
>Or, they would have, if the eldest's only-moments-ago remark about 'if it's hostile' weren't immediately relevant.<p>

They heard the roar, first, but the following flash of light of a digivolution was immediately visible in the otherwise oppressive darkness.

A few seconds afterwards, Velocimon - with Julian on his back - was sent skidding back through the trees, digging his claws into the ground to avoid tumbling head over heels backwards. Without even looking at the other two, he darted back forward.

And yet, they couldn't see the attacking party yet.

"Ah, crap," Faris muttered, pulling his own D-GEAR out as it began to glow; Toby already had his in hand.

"Delfinimon, kickstart digivolve to... Shayumon!"

"Lammon, kickstart digivolve to... Ariamon!"

Both boys stayed on their feet, in close pursuit of their partners as they surged after Velocimon.

They immediately had to step back, because once more the dinosaur was sent skidding backwards; this time, he found himself followed by the attacker. In turn, Shayumon and Ariamon (with their partners alongside) had to quickly side-step to avoid collision.

The digimon before them... well, it looked like it fit in, in this area. It was tall and lean, hunched over as it gripped its staff. Tattered black wings emerged from its back, and a sort of face-mask matched them, smaller wings coming off its head. It wore large gloves, and black pants and boots covered its lower half, a length of dark-red cloth - like a loincloth of sorts - was tucked into its belts, long enough to drag on the ground. However, this all avoided the main point, and its most striking feature - its entire body was devoid of flesh, instead being vivid red bones, ribcage curled around a large black core.

When Toby and Faris' D-GEARs began their usual litany, they got the impression that Julian had already been treated to it.

_SkullSatamon. Perfect-level undead digimon. Its wickedness is refined, causing its DigiCore to become concentrated in its corruptness. Its Nail Bone attack disrupts the functioning of its target's data._

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you could use a bit of help there, bro," Faris called, cupping his hands over his mouth.

If Julian heard him, he didn't respond, as Velocimon threw himself forward and towards SkullSatamon, head bowed.

"**Fast Strike**!"

SkullSatamon only laughed, jumping out of the way and flapping his wings to remain out of the way of the dinosaur's attack.  
>"Cute!" the undead digimon chuckled, gripping his staff. "But come on, now, you're going to have to try better than <em>that<em>. **Skull Hammer**!"  
>He twirled his staff before slamming his feet back down onto the ground, swinging his staff over his head and smashing it back down. Fittingly enough with the name of the attack, Velocimon took the brunt of the attack to his skull helmet.<p>

Julian had to abandon ship and jump off of his partner's back, as the attack was strong enough (unsurprising, perhaps, considering that SkullSatamon _was_ a perfect-level) to send the dinosaur reeling.

"Crap, you okay?" Faris blurted, immediately running forward to inspect his brother; luckily, his own partner provided cover of sorts.

"Been a while since we fought a digimon that's actually had the presence of mind to talk, yeom," Shayumon remarked, flexing her claws into the dark soil, before throwing herself forward, twirling herself around on her arms as her tailfin began to glow.  
>"<strong>Tail Saw<strong>!"  
>She slashed her glowing tail-blade across SkullSatamon's ribcage, but it was like trying to cut a diamond with a fingernail - it had not even the slightest discernable effect.<p>

"Aw, crap, yeom," she drawled as SkullSatamon grinned.

"**Skull Hammer**!" he cackled, this time swinging his staff like a baseball bat- with Shayumon as the baseball. Though it wasn't exactly a home run, it did send her tumbling backwards- and into a tree.

"Something tells me," Ariamon mumbled, closing her eyes. "This isn't going to work, as it is." Toby paused, then nodded, looking at his D-GEAR as it began to glow once again, shaking hard, as his sheep partner was engulfed by the same light.

"Ariamon, virtuous digivolve to... Nimbimon!"

SkullSatamon turned his attentions to the newly larger sheep. "Fancy that," he remarked, twirling his staff. "An opponent that's - you might say - on the level." He let loose a nasty cackle.

"First: never laugh at your own jokes, it makes you look stupid," Shayumon groaned, picking herself up. "Second: that one was just _lame_, yeom."

"No comments from the peanut gallery, if you please," SkullSatamon replied offhandedly, before rushing forward at Nimbimon. The sheep handily leapt out of the way, landing behind the attacker- but she did not, yet, counterattack herself.

This bought time for Shayumon, herself, to get a bit of a kick- and she began to glow.

"Shayumon, virtuous digivolve to... MetalShayumon!"

Velocimon growled, having taken quite a while to gain his bearings again; he stepped up alongside his partner (beside whom, Faris, too, was standing). He said nothing, while Julian only nodded; Velocimon nodded in return, then ran forward.

Mid-stride, both he and Julian's D-GEAR began to glow.  
>"Velocimon, virtuous digivolve to... Triassimon!"<br>And suddenly, he was quite a good deal larger.

"... well, that's just not fair, now, is it," SkullSatamon grumbled, turning around to look at all three of his now-perfect-level adversaries; though his face, being bone, could not truly move, the little lights in his eyes that served as pupils narrowed somewhat.'  
>"No matter. I can call in the cavalry, too, you know."<p>

SkullSatamon then reared his head back and let loose an unearthly howl.

"Sounds like a freakin' _banshee with a sore throat_!" Faris yelped, clapping his hands over his ears, and snarky as his summation was, it was at least _accurate._ However, after that, he didn't make any more comments- because suddenly two more SkullSatamon, one from the left and one from the right (relative to the original, at least) leapt out of the dark trees around them and alighted on the ground.

"Come on, then, head case," the original SkullSatamon snickered, pointing at Triassimon. "You seem to have a beef with me, don't you? My friends can take yours on."

It devolved from there, very quickly, into a flurry of attacks from all sides; beams from one SkullSatamon's staff were countered with the glowing orbs fired from around Nimbimon's neck, while MetalShayumon's torpedos were knocked out of the air by expert swings of the other's staff.

All the while, blasts of blue and red fire from Triassimon's twin heads spat out at the first SkullSatamon, who was flying around nearer the dinosaur's faces and striking out with beams from his staff whenever he found an opening- these were less rare than they might otherwise be, as Triassimon was splitting his attentions between both this one SkullSatamon, and also blasts of fire at the other two with whichever head was most convenient.

"You have to keep your heads in the game, buddy," the original SkullSatamon was taunting, getting a good wallop in on Triassimon's blue head as it spat a stream of fire at the SkullSatamon facing MetalShayumon- in turn allowing the shark's boomerang arm-guards to send their target tumbling backwards.

"I am really, _really_ starting to dislike this guy," Faris mumbled- he, Julian, and Toby had moved to one side, out of the line of fire as best they could be. "His lines are terrible."

"What'd I say about the peanut gallery?" the first SkullSatamon sneered - it seemed he was the only one really speaking - and suddenly he was much too close to the kids for comfort. Triassimon roared- the other two digimon were too preoccupied with their own SkullSatamon, and he himself was too large to effectively drive SkullSatamon away from the humans without risking injuring them himself.

SkullSatamon picked up on this, grinning- and reached out a hand for Julian, flexing his claws.

Before he could grab the boy, however, SkullSatamon got a snarling cyborg shark smashing into him from the side; as soon as MetalShayumon smashed him out of the way...

"**Orb Bomb**!" Nimbimon reared her head back and released a blast of energy from the orbs around her neck, sending the original SkullSatamon tumbling backwards into the trees.

Some part of Julian's mind registered Faris yelling something akin to _waste that loser!_, but he was focused on Triassimon - each head was spewing a stream of flames at either of the remaining two SkullSatamon, and before long they erupted into beams of light, their digitama falling to the ground

With a rumbling growl, the two-head dinosaur fixed all four of his eyes on where SkullSatamon - the original - had been sent tumbling into the trees.

Before long, the skeleton's shape burst out of the dark trees, his wings flapping to keep him afloat. "You realize, of course-"

"**Dark Swarm**."

He was cut short when suddenly he was engulfed by black; his glowing pupils constricted, as what looked like dark insects swarmed over his body, and within seconds he exploded into light.  
>Another dark shape flew up out of the trees, grabbing the egg in his claws.<p>

Flapping his wings silently, the smallest Reaper, PicoDaemon, peered down at the group with his foggy blue eyes, face impassive.

Nimbimon's own eyes narrowed, and she pawed at the ground with her hoof. "Hello again," she said, voice even. PicoDaemon merely swivelled his eyes to look at her; he said nothing.

"Call me crazy," MetalShayumon rumbled, flexing her claws, "but isn't it counterproductive if you guys keep offing your own underlings?"

That _did_ elicit a reaction from PicoDaemon.

"He was not of Lord Era," the small Mega said, voice devoid of emotion. "He could have jeopardized his goals by attacking you." A short pause. "I believe he knew this. We of Lord Era send our... appreciations, that you are so willing to help us on this front."

"Wait, what?" Faris cut in, blinking a couple times, his face falling.

"I am not obligated," PicoDaemon said, closing his eyes, "to explain anything to you. It would be a waste of my time. Farewell."

The last thing he did was allow SkullSatamon's digitama to fall from his claws; they heard it smash on the ground, and then PicoDaemon himself was gone from sight.

With a resigned sigh, all three of the perfect levels released their energy and returned to their child forms.

"I don't understand them," Iguamon said, stretching out his limbs as soon as he was in his smaller form.

"We will, I'm sure," Julian said, frowning and shaking his head. What he meant was _I am going to get some form of answer if it kills me_, but he did not say it.

"With hope," Toby said, frowning a bit and nodding, and looking around - not just at the digimon, but at the other two boys, too. "You're all okay?" He got a series of nods in return.

For a few minutes, they milled about; they would continue their search soon, yes, but they had earned at least a small respite. Faris, with Delfinimon hot on his heels, took a few steps away to sit down next to a tree, letting out a possibly over-dramatic 'whoof' of exhaustion as he did.  
>The dolphin looked up at Faris, and she spoke in low tones, trying to read his face. When she spoke, she was careful to be far quieter than was her wont.<p>

"So what do you think of what you heard last night, yeom?" her face was sympathetic, but she got a (clearly affected- clearly fake) look of confusion on her partner's face in return.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, 'ya big tuna fish," Faris said, smiling a smile that didn't quite reach the eyes.

Delfinimon was about to reply, but she was cut short before a single word could make its way out.

A large, familiar red tiger burst through the brush, opposite the direction PicoDaemon had went; he was followed by Kaizokumon, and then Andrea and Emily.  
>The reason this interrupted Delfinimon: they nearly bulldozed her and Faris.<p>

"Wow, uh," Faris said, blinking a couple times once he re-gained his bearings. "... looks like you've been having fun."

Andrea sighed, rolling her eyes. "You have no idea."

"You have no idea how nice it is to see you guys, too," Emily said, rubbing the back of her head.

For a while, they relaxed. They allowed Andrea and Emily to sit down, as well as both of their partners to drop to child level once mor. They exchanged explanations of their experiences since waking up; it was clear, then, that as much as the trio of boys and their digimon were 'allowing' the duo of girls and their partners to rest, they were just as much resting themselves.

They rested for a short while; perhaps they felt that the heat was at least a bit off, now that five out of seven duos were together. Before long, however, they began to walk again, in search of their missing comrades.. ... this, however, did take a significantly longer time, and it was nearing the end of another day (again, not that they could particularly tell, by the lighting) when they got any hints.

They were drawn by the sounds of a scuffle not far away, and upon checking their D-GEARs it indeed brought up a single flashing blip.  
>Julian and Andrea were at eachother's throats to try and decide who of the two would lead the way.<p>

"And _this_ is why we have goggles the boy scout to lead, instead of these two," Faris remarked, putting his hands on his hips and raising an eyebrow, as they moved forward with some trepidation.

The group stopped near the edge of a large clearing; it was hard to make out, but they could see a trio of dark shapes near the other side. One was handing an egg to another, who nodded and turned to leave. The group didn't disturb the farewells that were being exchanged; they couldn't place the odd shaep out, familiar though it was... but one was clearly serpentine, the other clearly human.

"Hey!" Emily said, cupping her hands over her mouth, after a few tense moments of silence following the departure of the third shape into the underbrush. The human shape was visibly startled, looking over; the group of five humans and five digimon emerged, then- and became six and six, with Luke and Sampamon added to the roster once more.

Six down, one to go.

"I'm going to put forth the motion that we try to, like, sleep, before we go tromping through the woods any further, yeah?" Emily proposed; the decision passed unanimously.

They rested in the clearing; Luke shared his own experience while separated, a bit sheepish; the digimon all but applauded when the news of Sampamon finally reaching her Perfect level was revealed. He may or may not have not chosen to remark on the final events - of his handing the egg to Ichimon, or that the digimon they ran into was an Ichimon at all - but that was far from the point.

Andrea, though she didn't say it, made a note to ask Luke - once they found Simon - about whatever it was that Epidemon had said; little did she know that Julian had questions of his own, relating to PicoDaemon's words.  
>They held their tongues, however, and went to sleep.<p>

The next day, it seemed that no matter where they looked, Simon and Egakumon were nowhere to be found. They searched for the bulk of the day, until what might have been early evening, but they found neither hide nor hair of their de facto leaders.

"You'd think, with how... _un-subtle_ they usually are, it'd be easier to find them, yeom," Delfinimon remarked around mid-day.

It wasn't much long after her remark that they were reaching the edge of the area. They assumed they were headed towards a Proxy area. They were approaching the mountains that had peered up over the trees, and ahead of them, the path was plain to see, rocky and rugged and leading up into the peaks.

"We should maybe... rest here," Toby said, a bit uncertain; Lammon nodded.

"It's as good a place as any. Perhaps they simply weren't dropped into this area at all," the sheep mused, sitting down.

Indeed, the others settled down as well; they weren't speaking much, all six humans and all six digimon lost in their own mental worlds.

"Hey, guys!"

Simon's familiar voice was unmistakable; the group looked around, and eventually saw him. The boy was seated on a small shelf of rock at the mountain's foot, looking sleepy and tired and decidedly exhausted, but there was a sort of undeniable energy exuding from his person.  
>In his arms, a small, familiar white and blue head with arms was asleep, eyes slid closed and breathing slow.<p> 


	35. Chapter 35: This Is My Place in Time

Simon's leg of the story is not here started at the beginning; rather, it starts on the second day; while Luke met Ichimon, while Andrea and Emily awoke from their illusions, while Julian, Faris, and Toby fought SkullSatamon... Simon and Egakumon were asleep.

And for some time after- well into what might have been afternoon, had they any light to tell by.  
>That afternoon, Simon and Egakumon, like their friends, awoke to look up at the same dark, inky sky that their friends had seen both yesterday and today.<p>

"This place is weird," Egakumon said as he awoke, stretching his arms out. He and Simon were nestled in the branches of a large tree, but their safety precaution had been for nothing.

"How do you mean?" Simon said, turning his head to look over at his rabbit companion.

"I mean," Egakumon paused, putting a claw to his face in thought. "It's too _quiet._ I mean I'm not, like, annoyed that no digimon is making attempts on our lives, you know?"

Simon paused and nodded, putting his hands behind his head and leaning against the trunk of the tree. "It just feels like there's nobody here. And considering how many digimon we've run into, it's kinda weird- yeah?"

"Yeah, that!" Egakumon sat up, looking over at Simon. "This place has been under Era control for a really long time, Deekamon told us once... he said that before Era came, he lived here. He said this place was lively enough that you wouldn't even notice that the sun never shone. And now..." The rabbit gestured around with one hand.

Simon frowned, and absent-mindedly adjusted his goggles as he thought. Was this what happened when Era controlled an area for too long, then? Stamping out dissent for long enough- he didn't even need to have Agents patrolling the area.

"Yeesh, I get what you mean," the boy said after a moment, frowning. "That's ten kinds of messed up, man."

Egakumon twirled his paintbrush around his claws, lost in thought for a moment. "... okay, maybe I'm a bit upset that nobody's come to try and kill us. I'm bored!"

"You _need_ to re-examine your priorities," Simon said, but he was grinning widely. The rabbit grinned right back. "Come on," the boy said after a minute, shifting where he sat. "I gotta get out of this tree." What he meant was _we have to find the others_, but he figured that much could be left unsaid.

The two shambled down out of the tree, small clouds of dark soil kicking up as their feet impacted the ground.  
>Almost out of instinct, Simon checked his D-GEAR; no signals. Unsurprising at best. He twirled the device in his hand, much like how Egakumon twirled his paintbrush, before pocketing it.<p>

"You've got better instincts - and eyesight, for that matter - than I do, bunny-boy," Simon said, smiling. "You lead the way."

"Yessir!" Egakumon said cheerfully and with a cheeky grin, throwing a salute to his human partner. He turned. In one direction: ... darkness and trees. In the other: ... darkness and trees. Ahead? Behind? All the same. Egakumon's smile did not falter, but he looked up at Simon.  
>"... yeah, I got nothing, bro."<p>

"You kidding?" Simon groaned, putting his arms akimbo. "Fine. Let's gooo..." he twirled his hand around, before pointing in a random direction- off to their left. "That-a-way."

They began to walk; there was a sort of makeshift path tromped down among the foliage, meaning there was a reduced risk of them accidentally tripping and falling on their faces. However, it didn't escape either of them that it seemed that the broken branches and bushes looked like they had been broken... quite recently.

"Bet you ten bucks that we're gonna run into something at the end of the path," Simon remarked; Egakumon tossed him a confused look, one eyebrow cocked.

"Remind me to ask you later what 'bucks' are," the rabbit said, but then his face broke into a cheeky grin. "Race you."

Simon raised his eyebrows in turn, and almost looked offended. "As if you have to _ask_." He grinned. "You're on."

That was all they needed to take off like twin shots down the rough path; they kicked up dark, loamy earth with their feet and snapped twigs that fell beneath them. A few digimon peered out of the dark to see what was going on; seeing the backs of the boy and the rabbit as they continued along their way, the digimon found themselves rather uninterested and summarily returned to their holes and dens.

It was actually quite a ways- some time had passed before the ending was in sight. (Little did they knew they were actually running _away_ from the direction their allies would be gathering in- oops.)

It took a long while, but the end did come. Perhaps unsurprisingly - he was a rabbit (... sort of), after all -Egakumon reached the end first. At the least, it was the end of the path they could discern, as it opened up from trees into an open area near the base of the mountains; it was the same sight that, tomorrow, their friends would stumble upon.

Egakumon was about to gloat about his victory, but before so much as _beat you_ got past his lips, the words died in his throat. He tilted his head up, looking to the sky as though searching for something.

"What's up?" Simon said, more than a little out of breath, once he caught up (and leaned against one of the straggler trees for support as he tried to catch his breath as well).

"I feel something," the rabbit replied; his tail was twitching, his ears perked- even the little frills of fur on his cheeks were pricking up. His pupils constricted, and he all but dove into Simon, sending the boy stumbling backwards into the trees. "Get back!"

"What's gotten into you?" Simon mumbled, but he got his answer very quickly.

It was only a few seconds later; the sound was almost imperceptible, but in the otherwise stillness of the area, it was just barely audible. The soft flapping of wings, followed by a small, dark, and familiar shape dropping to the ground.

PicoDaemon dug his claws into the loam, flexing his fingers as he looked around. If he saw Simon and Egakumon, he made no indication of it - not that they let that comfort them. The small Mega was joined very quickly by a tall, lean shape, with rusty wing-frames and a long beak-like face; Epidemon.

"You have fun, Pickles?"

"Do not call me that," PicoDaemon replied cooly, folding his wings around himself.

"Come on," Epidemon said, and they could hear the smirk that his face could not betray. "We're co-workers. Equals- more or less, since we're both kind of dog-toys if Cujo gets mad, but you know..."

He was cut off by a snarl; Javermon himself leapt off a small shelf low on the mountain, landing on the ground in front of Epidemon. "You need to learn respect," the dog rumbled, and Epidemon merely laughed in his face.

"After we're done with our errands, definitely. But after all, we can't upset your precious lord Era's _mission_ for us. We're as good as stray data the second we're done. He won't care."

"Silence!" Javermon snarled, getting very close to the plague doctor's face, burying a clawed hand in his co-worker's coat; after a moment, though, he released Epidemon, growling low. "We have more important things to attend to."

"As I was saying," Epidemon said airily.

Javermon snarled. "Get going- wait for me before you cross Areas. I'll finish things up here."

PicoDaemon paused, looking at the dog quizically. After a moment, however, he nodded and kicked off of the ground; his wings once again beat nearly silently in the still air. He glanced sidelong at Epidemon; Epidemon snorted and turned without a further word, walking for the mountain path ahead of them. The smaller Mega followed, similarly silent.

"We could just go ahead and do it ourselves," Epidemon grumbled, under his breath.

Javermon folded his arms and watched them go, barking: "If you're not waiting for me, I'll feed what's left of your body to the Seadramon!" He had quite apparently heard his cohort's remark.

Simon was about to comment, in low tones, to Egakumon, but when he turned to where the rabbit had stood he saw only air. He looked up, and saw his partner rushing for the Mega.

"**Pummel Claw**!" the rabbit cried, rearing his hand back as it swirled with data. It crashed straight into Javermon's leg. To say it had no effect was an understatement; if it were possible, it would have had _negative_ effect. As such, the canid man didn't even turn to look, merely began to laugh.

"I hope you didn't think you were well-hidden there," Javermon said, not turning around, "or you're even emptier-headed than I thought."

Simon stumbled out alongside his partner, who had taken a few steps back. The rabbit's eyes were narrow, and Simon could feel his hands unconsciously curl into fists.  
>Javermon turned, then, his cape swishing dramatically around him. A nasty smirk was spread across his face, a glint in his eyes underneath the metal mask. "You realize, don't you, that you're entirely too late?"<p>

"Yeah, care to explain that?" Simon said, standing up straighter, his lips tugging into a frown. There was no way he was going to back down or lose face- not to a digimon that amounted to a bully with too much power. Not now.

"That's hardly my place, don't you think?" Javermon taunted, the smirk widening into a grin. "But I'll try to make it simple. You and your friends can't stop us- can't stop Lord Era. And once we kill the final Sovereign, Yggdrasil is ours to take- and once we take Yggdrasil, so are your lives."

Simon's fists tightened even more; Egakumon began to glow bright.

"Egakumon, kickstart digivolve to... Shokunimon!"

The newly-grown rabbit wasted no time. "**Paint Blast**!" he cried, sending a burst of caustic paint at the larger Digimon.

Once more, the canine shrugged it off as though it were nothing. "We're heading towards Zhuqiaomon, now," he said, airily, gesturing over his shoulder. "Once we reach him, he will fall to us; Baihumon dies after that, and then the great dragon itself." There was an unsettling sort of glee in his voice, the idea clearly far too pleasing to him.

"Not over my dead body," Shokunimon snapped, standing his ground even as Javermon took an intimidating step closer. "Nor over the bodies of my comrades, or any of those who still fight Era."

"Soon to be fewer," Javermon replied, conversational as ever; the nasty grin never left his face. "Look around you, rabbit; this is what happens when an area stands up. It becomes nothing, barren. Good only to distract a bunch of would-be heroes who want to pretend they can make a difference."

"You really, really have issues, man," Simon said, closing his eyes and massaging his temples. When the red-headed boy opened his eyes, there was a fierceness in his gaze that wasn't there before.  
>"We're not going to lie down just because you're giving us these half-baked speeches about how hopeless it is."<p>

"You may be able to strike fear into the hearts of weaker digimon, bro," Shokunimon picked up, nodding his head, "but not us. We're Warriors, _in case you forgot_. You know, the whole 'legendary heroes' thing? If that can bring digimon to your side, then we can bring them back."

"You are a tool of the Sovereigns," Javermon snapped back, trying to seem ike he wasn't losing his cool. "A pawn, a bargaining chip."

"Better than one to a megalomaniac. Just saying," Simon said, shrugging his shoulders; he smiled lopsidedly.

Javermon snorted, turning his back. "I've no time to argue with _children_," he said, his tail thrashing.

"You try to intimidate us, and then you run away with your tail between your legs when it doesn't work!" Shokunimon said, boldness growing in his voice. Javermon looked over his shoulder, impassive.

"You have no idea what you're asking for, fuzzy," the dog said smoothly, shrugging his shoulders and not facing the rabbit.

A narrowing of eyes and a burst of light later, and StarShokunimon stood there in place of his previous form, brandishing his paintbrush-sword and holding it out, tip touching Javermon's back. "Stand and fight," he said, his voice cool and even. "Even if I can't defeat you, I can hold you back."

"But you see, you're missing a vital point, here! You can do neither, and I don't have the time to waste on you," Javermon mused, sounding quite entertained. He began to walk towards the path, after his comrades, taking leisurely steps.

"Don't let him," Simon said quietly; StarShokunimon nodded. He didn't need the instruction.

With one smooth movement, the black rabbit leapt clear over Javermon's head, landing between him and the mouth of the path. He turned on his heel, sword still brandished. "Stand and fight!" he repeated; even behind his metal visor, his eyes were narrowed.

"Doing what's 'right' over doing what's _smart_, I see," the dog remarked, shrugging his shoulders. "If you insist."

A _nasty_ smile spread across his face, and he reared one hand back, claws glowing red. "**Blood Oath**!" He lunged forward to smash his hand into StarShokunimon, dragging his claws across the rabbit's torso.

Needless to say, it did not go well for the partner digimon.

StarShokunimon let out what could only be described as a wail, thrown backwards and halfway crumpling. He didn't lose his form, however; he slowly got to his feet, lip curled back.

"**Screeching Howl**!" the rabbit yelled, and then allowed an unearthly scream to escape his maw, followed by barely-visibly concentric circles. Javermon growled low in his throat; though the attack itself barely did damage, it _did_ hurt his ears.

"Impudent," the canine rumbled. "Get out of my way."

"Not a chance, bro," StarShokunimon replied, shaking a bit on his feet but smirking. He lurched forward, drawing his blade as the metal began to glow bright as a star. "**Starlight Blade**!"

Javermon's eyes narrowed, but his face was even as he retaliated, rearing his hand back once more.  
>"<strong>Blood Oath<strong>!"  
>It was like a crescent of red meeting the white blade, and the former won. A lot.<p>

The metal blade was cut cleanly in half, the tip with the point falling to the ground as StarShokunimon himself was thrown backwards.

When the rabbit didn't lift himself after a couple of seconds, Simon threw himself forward, darting around Javermon and rushing to his partner's side.

"Crap! You okay?" Simon said, nudging the black rabbit.

"Never better," StarShokunimon replied, though to say he sounded strained would be to say an ocean was a bit damp. Suddenly, he went up in white light- not that of a defeat, but of his shrinking and returning to his Child form. (The broken half of his blade that had clattered to the ground had dissipated with the rest of StarShokunimon.)

"I hope the _point_ is getting through your skulls," Javermon taunted, sneering and snide.

There was a moment of silence, before Simon himself looked up at the canine digimon. He felt small, kneeling on the ground next to a child-level partner, before one of the strongest Digimon under Era's command.  
>And he did not let it deter him.<br>"If you think it has, you've _really_ been failing to pay attention."

Javermon was taken aback at that- just for a moment, but clearly so regardless.

When nothing happened, Simon got to his feet, helping to pull Egakumon up to his feet. (The rabbit had to lean against the boy's legs to stand upright.)  
>"I think you're underestimating us, you know?" Simon said, not looking at the dog, but rather at the ground before him. "Bunnyboy and I, we're blockheads." He smiled; Egakumon smirked up at him. "We're gonna do what's right, even in the face of- well, for lack of a better word..."<br>He looked up at Javermon, and smiled again. "Bullies. Because that's all you are. You're throwing around the power that Era gave you because it makes you feel big, right?"

"Get out of the way," Javermon growled, his claws glowing red.

"You said that our lives are only yours to take once you take Yggdrasil, right?" Simon said, putting his hands in his pockets. "So... I'm thinking that means you can't kill us yet. What can you do?"

What happened next shocked Egakumon.

Simon reached up and pulled his hat off. He goggles snapped back into place, as the hat was pulled from under them; he adjusted them with one hand. His hair was, to put it gently, a complete mess. (It gave a bit of insight into why he never took his hat off.)

He clenched his beanie hat in one hand, taking his digivice out of his pocket with the other. "If you can't do something smart, then do something that's right."

Javermon took a step forward, his own fists clenched and teeth bared; he was fed up, and it was plain on his face. He was done playing with children.

Simon merely closed his eyes.

"Simon!" Egakumon said, looking down at his own claws as he tugged at Simon's hand. His hands were being bathed in a white light, tinged at its edges with red.

The only difference?

So were Simon's.

Egakumon looked up at his partner; his human partner's eyes were still closed, his breathing slow, seeming like he was away in mind.  
>"Simon!" he cried again, closing his eyes as he yelled.<p>

**_True warrior of the Virtue of Honor; this is your genesis._**

At the same time, Simon and Egakumon both opened their eyes; in place of Simon's green eyes or Egakumon's blue, they glowed entirely red, shining out light like fire. The light from their hands covered their bodies faster and faster, until they were both completely engulfed by it. It burst into a sphere of light, its edges still tinted red; it was impossible to see within, while faint red forms blurred across the surface.

"Egakumon, genesis digivolve to..."

They were surrounded by a rush of data within the sphere- the same rushing noise they had heard in Azulongmon's chambers, growing louder and louder until it was almost unbearable.  
>Everything was warm as data fused together- two forms melding together to form one.<p>

Together, they grew taller; the form they took was humanoid, lean. Metal armor snapped around the new body's arms, legs, and chest. Thin black fabric, skin-tight, covered most of the skin not covered by armor; upper legs, most of the upper arms (all save the new body's shoulders), abdomen.  
>Gems settled into the backs of the new form's hands, as claws grew out of the armored boots. Hair grew long, deep blue in shade, and the bulk of it tied into a bushy ponytail. A metal visor settled around the new form's eyes, a black facemask covering the bottom half of the face. Rabbit-like ears, black with red markings, grew from under the hair, as a long tail - much like Egakumon's normal one - curled around the waist. It held in place a simple garment, a length of fabric almost like a banner - burnt red, emblazoned in blue with the Virtue of Honor. A long red scarf, its tail ends blowing around him, settled around his neck.<p>

Two swords crossed over eachother, attached to the back; they were held in paintbrush-like scabbards. From one blade's ring-like scabbard, a white talisman hung; from the other, a similar talisman in black. Both were drawn and slashed through the white orb; the light dissipated and the new body stepped forward.

"**Kisekimon**!"

It was bizarre- it was more than bizarre. Simon could feel his mind, still separate from his partner's, but linked therewith. The body was not entirely his- nor was it entirely Egakumon's. It was simply theirs, a joint form.  
>He had never felt stronger- and it was pure, true strength that coursed through the body, through both his and the rabbit's very souls and essences.<p>

They saw the same things; the same sensations crossed their minds. Any motion made was not just the action of one, but the action of both.

Words passed between them, unsaid in a physical sense. Therefore, they were not truly audible from the outside; however, they were clear as day to the two components of the digimon.  
>"Are you okay?" Simon asked of Egaku- pardon, Kisekimon; he got a laugh in return.<p>

_You kidding? I've never been better!_ The voice was foreign, deeper, more mature- but still recognizable as that of his partner.

"Then let's light this sucker up," Simon said, grinning.

Kisekimon's mouth fell into a lopsided smile underneath his fabric face mask.

_You got it, bro._

Simon was noticing so much more of the world around him - not just because the visor over Kisekimon's eyes granted him better sight in the darkness, but the rest of his senses seemed so much sharper. He thought, faintly, that he was able to feel, somewhere within him, what he could only describe as a pulse of power, of data, beating warmly like a heart.  
>He realized after a moment that it was, in fact Kisekimon's heart- or rather, his digicore.<p>

Little did he know that Kisekimon himself was feeling a similar, distinct sensation- the feeling of his human partner's heart.

Javermon snarled, but smiled. "Cute party trick," he mocked, before he snarled. "**Blood Oath**!"

Immediately, Kisekimon held up one of his blades, and it began to glow brightly. "**Nova Blade**!" he cried, and Javermon's red claws once more met with a shining sword.

This time, however, the red glow faded from Javermon's claws as it faded from the blade; though there was now a small scratch on the metal, Kisekimon's sword stayed intact. The dog took a step back, growling low in his throat.

Kisekimon raised one hand, that same sword gripped tight; the point was almost touching Javermon's nose. "You try to intimidate us; you attempt to strike fear into the heart of the digital world. You serve a tyrant because he gives you power. You fight without heart and without dignity. These are truths, and they are unforgivable."

Though the words came out of Kisekimon, in Kisekimon's voice, Simon could feel himself (did he even still have a physical form, he wondered) saying them as well; it was impossible to tell whether they came from Kisekimon himself, from Simon, or from both.

"You can stand and fight me on equal terms, or you can run now that I pose a threat to you. I suggest you not run; should you flee, I cannot promise mercy when my comrades and I next engage you."

Javermon did not speak in reply. He merely reared his head back and let loose an unearthly howl, blood-curdling and haunting. The sound echoed off the mountains and trees before being devoured by the darkness, fading away as suddenly as it was made.

When Javermon's head came down, it began to change- become more bestial. Seconds later, the canine was substantially less humanoid; long arms, huge legs, and thin body, long muzzle drooling caustic spit. His yellow eyes glared at the rabbit samurai with nothing more than animal rage; Javermon snickered.  
>He said nothing; instead, he reared back onto his haunches and launched himself over Kisekimon's head. Like a shot, he carried himself up the mountain on all four legs, moving terrifyingly fast.<p>

Kisekimon began to move to follow, but he turned his head over his shoulder at the sound of a noise behind him.  
>Whether or not Egakumon always heard with this much clarity was all Simon could wonder in the back of his mind.<p>

However, such thoughts were chased out of his head presently. The being that had caused the foliage to be crushed down, creating the path that the pair had followed to this point, was clear to see, as it forged a further path out of the trees and towards Kisekimon.

_Be prepared,_ Kisekimon's voice said cautiously.

"Come on, you say that like I need to be reminded!" As Simon replied as such, he could feel Kisekimon's mouth curl into a smile again.

_Well, come on, I've been in a lot more battles than you. Respect your elders, or something like that._

"Cram it, bunnyboy."

Regardless of their banter, Kisekimon tensed as the digimon broke out of the trees and into view.

It was tall; it looked to be made of metal, plated in silver and gold. Skull-shaped caps over its knees accentuated and matched its actual head, a gold skull with long curved horns. Behind its head was a fixture that bore a striking resemblance to a dark hood.  
>It was adorned with entirely too many pointy instruments; spikes on one shoulder, long claws on its feet, curved claws on one hand, and its opposite hand replaced entirely with a long golden sickle. Above its normal hand, near the elbow, was perched an odd sort of firearm.<p>

Simon - if he had more of a physical presence than he did - would have jumped a mile when, even now, he heard the voice characteristic of his D-GEAR go off. (From whence was unclear- as Simon had no separate physical body at the moment, it was outside of his understanding.)

_Reapermon. Mega-level cyborg digimon. Despite the bounty on its own head, it hunts down criminals and executes them ruthlessly- a criminal attacking criminals. It uses the Guilty Chain fired from its left arm to draw enemies close and the Judgment sickle on its right to perform its Grim Slasher attack._

"Javermon can't even fight us himself, so he sends a lackey to do his dirty work for him," Kisekimon said; Reapermon gave no word of reply.

Except for a cry of, "**Grim Slasher**...!"  
>It raised the hand adorned with the odd gun, and from it was fired a length of chain- it moved faster than Kisekimon could tumble out of the way, and it immediately wrapped itself around the rabbit samurai's body.<br>Just as quickly as it was shot out, it began to retract; though Kisekimon dug his feet and claws into the ground to try and impede it, it had no effect.

"Ah, nuts," he mumbled, as Reapermon lifted his scythe-like arm; with a bit of a struggle, Kisekimon lifted his hands - as best he could, confined by the chain.  
>"<strong>Blast Burst<strong>!"

Shots of energy escaped his hands, shooting straight into Reapermon's body; the other Mega let out a hollow moan, releasing Kisekimon as it stumbled backwards.

_Nice one,_ Kisekimon's voice reached Simon; the boy smirked.

"I have no idea what I'm doing!" the human boy admitted freely. "But darn if I don't like it."

Reapermon rumbled low, before lunging forward, rearing his scythe arm up again; it was without a formal attack calling, was nothing more than a simple action.

It was surprisingly fast, considering Reapermon's considerable metal bulk; Kisekimon cried out as he tumbled backwards, forcing himself to his feet again.  
>He wanted to play that way? Great.<br>"**Rush Hit**!"

Kisekimon threw his body forward, lunging so quickly out of his half-crouched position that he all but faded from sight. Fist glowing white, he stopped long enough to smash one hand into Reapermon's chest, denting the metal. As quickly as he closed in, he backed away. The cyborg digimon raised his blade, only to notice that by the time he had his target had feinted out of his range.

"**Grim Slasher**...!" Reapermon repeated, his voice sounding ghostly, ethereal. Once more, the chain shot out; this time, Kisekimon was ready for it.

"**Double Blader**!" Kisekimon called, twirling both swords in his hands before he lifted them in front of himself, crossing them; they began to glow. Reapermon's chain clattered against the swords, wrapping around them instead their wielder. The warrior then pulled his twin swords outwards, their shining blades cutting effortlessly through the metal chain.

Reapermon's glowing eyes narrowed. "**Bone Duster**...!"  
>He closed the distance between himself and Kisekimon before dragging his scythe-arm upwards through the air, leaving a pillar of fire in its wake.<p>

It did not strike true; Kisekimon, following the movement of his opponent's blade, merely leapt into the air. He was suspended, lighter than air, for a moment.  
>"Not today. <strong>Nova Blade<strong>!" he cried, one sword glowing bright as he smashed to earth, holding the blade tip-down- and straight into Reapermon.

Kisekimon was met with another long, ethereal moan, before Reapermon went up in a flash of white data, swirling around him and shooting into the sky like a sigil as an egg dropped to the ground.  
>If only any of their friends were awake to see it, it could have led them straight to them.<p>

Kisekimon stood in silence, silently sheathing his swords in their crossed scabbards on his back.  
><em>What do we do now?<em> Kisekimon asked of Simon.

"We need to follow them," Simon said, and he turned Kisekimon's head to look up the mountain path. "But... we can't leave without the others."

_So we wait?_

"We wait until the morning, at the least. We'll look for them if they don't find us by then. I donno about you - actually, no, yes I do. We're kind of sharing a body." He grinned, even as he heard Kisekimon's voice groan good-naturedly. "We're tired."

The last thing that Kisekimon did was leap up onto a shelf of stone, a small platform perhaps six or seven feet off the ground. The rabbit-eared samurai bowed his head as he landed, before a tingling, numb sensation came over him.

The next thing either of them knew, Simon was kneeling on the ground next to not Egakumon- but Efudemon, his Baby II form.

"Guess that takes a lot out of me," the little digimon remarked, smiling exhaustedly.

"No kidding," Simon replied, picking the furry little head up. "... that was freakin' rad, though," he added thoughtfully, smirking.

"Rad isn't even the word," Efudemon said, holding up his (three-clawed) hand for a fascimilie of a high five; Simon shifted the little digimon into one arm before he obligingly slapped his palm against his partner's. "We got one heck of a story to tell the others."

He felt like his body was lead; as soon as he leaned back against the rock and closed his eyes, he was _out_.

* * *

><p>The pair slept on their little shelf until the next day, when the sound of people about reached their ears. Simon cracked an eye open; he couldn't see them over the lip of the rock, but he could hear the familiar voices, unmistakable.<br>Efudemon, still nestled in his partner's arms, remained fast asleep; Simon thus moved very gingerly scooted forward, still sitting down, until he could more clearly see the other humans and their digimon.

"Hey, guys," he said, and his voice sounded more tired than he thought it would. The twelve - six humans, six digimon - turned to look at him, taken aback and surprised.

"Well, call us lucky," Andrea remarked dryly, putting one hand on her hip; however, she couldn't quite conceal a smile, mostly of relief at the team's total reunion, tugging one side of her mouth up. "What have you and bunnyboy been up to?"

Simon couldn't help but grin. "Kind of a funny story, that."

* * *

><p>A great distance away, Era was - as he usually was - lounging in his throne-like seat, hand flicking through the air to bring forward and cast away holographic projections.<p>

One virtue, two cores- it was coming together. Slower, perhaps, than he would have liked, but it was of no matter.  
>The man cast a sideways glance, adjusting his glasses impassively. Atop the pedestal - newly instated - next to his chair, a mass of data swirled, condensed into a form very nearly the size and shape of a Digitama, pulsing slow and steady like a heart. It was simply data, not physical at all; not even Era himself dared to touch it directly. Not yet.<p>

It was only a matter of time.

He had waited long enough; the time he'd have to wait for this was nothing in comparison- mere weeks at the worst, and then it would be _his_.

A smile crept across his face, slow and liquid.


	36. Chapter 36: Never Turn Around

_A/N: SO I won NaNoWriMo! 50,000 words of this crap. Wow. The good news is that I won and have a few really good chapters upcoming. The bad ("bad")? I accidentally wrote a handful of longer chapters instead of more short ones, and I think this may or may not become the new standard length. Oopsies. I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

><p>The group's plans for resting at the foot of the mountain were abandoned, unsurprisingly, the second Simon's presence there was made clear. This was only accellerated once Simon revealed his knowledge that the trio led by Javermon were <em>beyond even the slightest shadow of doubt<em> headed up into them, and thus to wherever it was that lay beyond the proxy area.

Very shortly after the group was once more fully-formed, then, they began the trek up the craggy path between the peaks. The further they went ahead and up, the lighter it got, despite the relatively shallow incline of the path.  
>To be quite frank, it took some adjusting- and a bit of pain, as their pupils had expanded so drastically from spending those several days at night-time levels of illumination.<p>

"It buuuurns!" wailed Efudemon (who had woken up some time ago - roughly around the time that Simon jumped off of the rock shelf and accidentally dropped him), clapping his claws over his face.

"Stealing my line, yeom," Delfinimon remarked cheekily, rubbing at her own eyes as the entire group did much the same. "I was gonna say that."

"Way too many amateur comedians around, I guess," Lammon said quietly, smiling faintly.

The further they walked, the steeper and more winding the path got- and before long, the tingling sensation of a data reformat set in. As ever, it went barely noticed by the digimon, but was a faint pressure on the skulls of the kids.  
>Except for Simon, who only realized the absence once Andrea grumbled and rubbed at her head.<p>

Simon had yet to explain the events of the battle to the others; he couldn't seem to find the words to make it sound real- perhaps it was even seeming a little unreal in hindsight. Uncharacteristically (for him, at least), he said nothing.

By the time they reached the apex of the path, the sun was setting to their right; it cast a warm orange light over the scenery before them, below them.  
>A ways down the slope - gentler than the one they had just scaled - on this side of the mountains, it evened out. All around them was a ring of mountains, surrounding what they could only guess the entire area, as it was indeed a quite vast area laid before them.<p>

The valley nestled between the mountain darker was than its, surroundings thanks to the lip of peaks blocking the light from the setting sun in the west. The rock was dark, tinted with a strange sort of purple, though spots here and there shone brightly, like beacons in the night. Similarly, more small peaks were nestled within the valley, some of them streaked with-

"It's not a valley," Julian said suddenly, raising his eyebrows. "It's a giant volcanic crater."

And indeed, it was- though somehow there were more, smaller volcanoes within it, it looked to be the crater of a truly tremendously-sized volcano.

"I'm guessing that the data reformat is going to prevent us from, oh, say, _bursting into flames_, should that become a concern," Andrea remarked; Rajamon smirked.

"I don't see how that's an issue." The tiger was kidding, judging by the tone in his voice.

"The rest of us are not built to combust as a combat mechanism," Delfinimon remarked, sticking her tongue out. "So shush, yeom."

They looked out further, trying to see what they could; it was getting too dark to make out anything terribly small, but silhouettes still stood. The expanse of land below them had what looked to be expanses of rocky planes, interspersed with intermittent clusters of city and town, and, oddly enough, a decent amount of low-lying vegetation; how it was surviving when lava was oozing around it was going to go unquestioned, explained away by _Digital World_.

In the heart of the crater, a large volcano (within a volcano) reached for the sky, the tallest thing by far in the area; glowing molten rock flowed slowly down its sides, erupting gently but consistently.

This was all visible to them, however, as they were still well above it all. The trek down would likely be a sizable time investment of its own, and not one they were particularly looking forward to doing in the dark.

Iguamon was quick to find them a level area a short jaunt down the crater side of the mountain; it was a level area underneath an overcropping of rock; it was shadowed well, and moreover there were a number of boulders providing a low wall across the front side. It was dry and relatively hidden, and looked safer than not.  
>This was all they could ask, really.<p>

It was (perhaps unsurprisingly) quite warm - not overly so; in fact it was quite pleasant, allowing those with extra layers of clothing to remove them to provide some form of cushioning on the hard ground. (To be precise: Simon and Toby had their hoodies, Andrea had her cropped jacket, Julian had his vest, and Luke had his full-length jacket.)

"So I think we've got a lot to talk about," Kamomon said after they had settled down, sitting as comfortably as they could, sitting in some rough approximation of a circle.

Andrea wasted no time; she looked over at Luke. "What's up with the fact that none of those reaper guys seem willing to kill us?" She spoke with her usual level of tact (that is, "very low"), which gained her a sideways glance from Sampamon, but no remark.

Luke raised his eyebrows, and for a moment had no words.

"I actually had the same question," Julian added before Luke had much of a chance to explain anything. "That PicoDaemon one. He killed the digimon that attacked us because his attacking us 'jeopardized' their goals."

Luke sat back, leaning on his hands; he could feel all eyes on him. Sampamon tightened a bit around his shoulders as a comforting gesture.  
>Time to be the dispenser of all knowledge Era-related. Joy of freaking joys.<p>

"I... I'd love to say I know all the details. But I really don't. I know that... it has something to do with the Virtues." Luke rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know why, exactly. He said, repeatedly, that none of his minions were allowed to- well. It's why I-" he choked on the word, shaking his head. "_Forbidramon,_ protected..." he faltered here, looking at Andrea. "From- Narakamon."

Andrea paused, but shook her head as though dispelling a thought; she nodded soon after.

Sampamon considered this, then nodded. "I wish we knew more," the snake said slowly, closing her eyes. "All we know is this: he has the Virtue. He's..." she took a deep breath. "The Reapers are killing the Sovereigns."  
>The digimon were stunned into a silence, quite visibly taken aback; Efudemon let out an indignant yelp, Delfinimon gave a squeak of surprise. The kids merely blinked slowly; even if they did not have as much of a reverence for the Sovereigns as the digimon...<br>Their time in the digital world was more than enough to make them appreciate the weight of the situation.

"I don't think we can know if he's gotten any more of them since we saw Azulongmon fall," Luke said, frowning as he pulled his knees closer to his chest.

The digimon were still shocked mute, and the kids were listening intently, so the seventh child took the chance to continue.  
>"They're taking cores. That was what they had before the ruins fell- what they took out of the temple," he said. "My best guess is that he's trying to make something with the Sovereign's cores and the virtue. I can't be sure, but... that's all I know." Luke looked up, frowning; all around him were looks of deep thought, of fear, of surprise, of indignity, and he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt run through him.<p>

Toby spoke up, speaking slow and choosing his words carefully. "... so... he's trying to create something-"

"Probably a digimon," Lammon added; Toby nodded slowly.

"Something, probably a digimon... with part of Yggdrasil, and with the cores of the Sovereigns. Basically, parts of gods."

There was a short silence.

"... wellp, it's official! We are _hosed_. Was good knowing you guys," Faris said, voice positively dripping with sarcasm.

"Try to be a bit more optimistic," Emily chided, pulling her knees to her chest.

Efudemon was lost in thought; he tapped his claws on the rock. "We saw them take Azulongmon. I think Ebonwumon lived in the Overgrown Swamp - my best bet's that they got him, too."

"If we're heading towards Zhuqiaomon, and Simon said that Javermon said they were," Kamomon continued, looking out over the crater they were still perched above, "then we must have been sent quite a ways across the world when we came back."

"So after this, they'll go for Baihumon. He's in the Metal City, to the west," Iguamon said, blunt and matter-of-fact. The kids could only listen and nod along, having no way to contribute; this was something about which the digimon had sole ownership of the knowledge.

"Then that gives us a plan of attack," Rajamon concluded. "We try to find the Reapers here once we wake up. Hold them off. Hopefully kick their faces in."

"And if we don't find them, yeom?" Delfinimon said, though she knew the answer already.

"Then we run," Luke said bluntly, sitting back.

"And try to head them off at the Metal City," Sampamon added, perhaps in attempts to make it a bit less bleak.  
>Whether or not that attempt worked was up in the air.<p>

* * *

><p>"You're kidding, right?" Epidemon sneered, reclining against the side of a building; Javermon turned on him, growling. They were having a bit of slow going across the surface of the crater; Zhuqiaiomon had sent out every last one of his defenses, predicting the trio's arrival. This was one of the most emphatically anti-Era places remaining, much helped due to Zhuqiaomon's active defenses (and remarkably bad temper).<br>They were currently hiding in a dead-end alleyway, preparing to settle down - even Mega digimon need sleep, and Epidemon's whining had become insufferable.

Only moments prior had Javermon revealed that the first of the brats and their digimon had reached Mega.

"It is no matter," PicoDaemon said, wings wrapped around himself and eyes closed. "We only need to move faster, and it will be of no concern to us."

"Thank you, for that _brilliant_ observation," Javermon replied sarcastically. "I could never have thought of it myself. It won't be a problem."

Epidemon snorted. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can smash them into the dust. I'm looking forward to that."

"We should reach Zhuqiaomon's temple by tomorrow night at this rate, though I'd be willing to bet he will be fighting back even more the closer we get," PicoDaemon said, unconcerned with what his comrades were saying.

"So who's gonna sit up first and cover our tails while we sleep?" Epidemon asked, his beady glowing eyes looking pointedly at Javermon.

The canine had no problem with sitting up to fight off any comers while the other two slept- wasted time. He had a few frustrations he was glad to work out on digimon he could actually feel free to kill.  
>Epidemon and PicoDaemon slipped into the building the former was leaning against, while Javermon stepped back out into the street.<p>

* * *

><p>To the surprise of the entire group, and the displeasure of none of them, <em>nothing bad happened<em> while they were sleeping. They were nestled in their little alcove, and nothing tried to murder them in the night.  
>It was a comfortable departure from the norm.<p>

They awoke fairly early, as they had in fact gone to sleep relatively early, tired out from the trek up the mountainside. As such, the first rays of the sun were just peeking over the crest of mountains to the east, casting the first fingers of light over the crater valley.  
>Much of the rock was still tinted with a grey-purple; there were no streaks of lava that were visible from their vantage point, instead hardened black lines spiderwebbing across the peaks that had been erupting.<p>

And some distance away, a periodic burst of light and rush of data into the sky from out of the far end of the city at the foot of the mountains.

"No prizes for guessing what's going on," Luke mumbled, folding his arms as the group peered down, standing outside of the alcove where they had rested.

"Well, looks like we know where _we_ need to go," Rajamon couldn't help but remark. He was about to begin moving forward down the hill, but was unsurprisingly plowed past by Simon.

"Last one there's a rotten digitama," Efudemon called, crawling up onto his partner's shoulders to look backwards at the others, grinning cheekily.

Faris was quick to take the challenge, throwing himself down the rocky face after the be-hatted boy and his currently-diminutive partner. Delfinimon squeaked in defiance, only able to throw herself so quickly on her fins; she was laughing, however, as she followed.  
>Julian, Emily, and Andrea did not hesitate, following at a normal (though somewhat brisk) pace. Julian put his hands in his pockets, as did Andrea; Emily's hands found their way behind her head, fingers laced.<p>

"They certainly do a lot of running," Lammon remarked, looking up at Toby before over at Luke and Sampamon. She had yet to make a move towards... moving; the other three to whom she looked were much the same, still stationary.

"Personally, I'm just not eager to try and face down with the Reapers," Luke replied, shrugging one shoulder, but began to descend after the others, Toby quick to follow.

Andrea frowned, able to overhear the conversation behind her. She hadn't yet asked the real question on her mind, and she got the feeling that Julian was leaving things of his own unsaid.

* * *

><p>Running downhill, and with not as much (geographical) relief as there was coming up, the group made much better time catapulting themselves down the slope, to the surprise of absolutely nobody. True, Simon and Faris - still running - were significantly further ahead, even as they had to slow down to avoid tripping and falling on their faces, but they were all within sight of eachother at the least.<p>

Luke was, again, straggling in the back; this was fairly characteristic of him, and so none would think it terribly odd. What might be seen as odd, however, was how after a time, Andrea and Rajamon slowed their pace to fall in step with Luke.

"Hey," she said; Luke nearly jumped out of his skin, clearly not expecting to be addressed. Sampamon nodded her acknowledgement to the girl and to Rajamon, but said nothing.

"... hi," Luke said after a moment, blinking.

"I've got a question," Andrea said, putting her hands on her hips; she wasn't looking at the boy, but ahead, and so she didn't notice the sort of quizzical look she was getting. However, she turned suddenly; once again, Luke nearly leapt a foot. The girl cocked an eyebrow. "I'm not going to leap down your throat or whatever."

Luke rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Well- I just don't think you-" he was going to finish it with _like me that much_, but he cut himself off; saying as such would serve no purpose. "What's up? I mean- the question."  
>Smooooooth.<p>

"Epidemon - the bird faced one - said if we wanted answers, we should ask _the traitor_," Andrea said, looking ahead again. "I don't suppose you have any idea?"

Luke furrowed his brow. "I- unless he meant me, and if he actually used the word 'traitor', then I don't think he did. He'd use a much more colorful name if he did," he muttered, but shook his head. "Sorry. Off-topic. No, I don't know. More than one digimon defected, but I don't know how many of them... really lasted."

Andrea looked at the boy and the snake around his shoulders with a scrutinizing look, as though searching for any signs of deceit or hiding anything. She found none, and nodded slowly.

"Fine," she said, putting her hands in her pocket. "Thanks anyway. C'mon, Rajamon." She beckoned for the cat to follow her; he nodded his head and followed promptly as Andrea once more picked up her pace, breaking away.

"Is it just me, or do you feel like we're spending half our time chasing our tails?" Rajamon said after a moment, looking up at his partner. He spoke quietly enough to not be overheard.

Andrea nodded her head once. "You're telling me."

* * *

><p>Before it took entirely too long, the ground began to even out, the slope becoming gentler and gentler until they were once again on relatively level ground. It was around mid-late morning by this point; the sun itself was creeping ever higher in the sky, peeking over the ridge and into sight, bathing the crater valley in light.<p>

They were at the at the outskirts of the city. Small, somewhat shoddily-built houses were placed intermittently and with little regard for organized layout. Digimon walked about, going about their business and- surprisingly enough - mostly seeming indifferent to the ragtag bunch of digimon and humans that just skidded down the hill.

"So... do we just run forward and hope it all works out?" Emily said, putting her hands behind her head again.

"If anyone suggests we split up, I will _injure them bodily_," Andrea said. Knowing her, that was _not_ an idle threat.

"We could ask for directions," Kamomon said, gesturing with one wing-hand. "See if anyone has seen-"

"A emaciated bird-faced creep, a demonic puffball, and a puppy with _serious_ anger management issues, yeom." One guess whose comment that was.

"Something like that," Kamomon said, nodding. "Unless any of you object to asking?"

"We haven't had anyone leap out to try and attack us yet, so... I'm betting it's safe," Emily added, smiling faintly.

"Good enough for me," Simon said cheerfully, shifting Efudemon into one arm so he could give a thumbs-up with his newly freed hand.  
>That was good enough for the rest of the group, too- if anyone had any complaints, they knew well enough that trying to reason with Simon was like trying to teach a squid to sing.<p>

Which, truth be told, was a distinct possibility in the Digital World, but that was entirely not the point.

They took off, then, following their goggle-headed leader's lead through the buildings. Digimon looked up from what they were doing to peek at the group, as subtly as they could (some less so than others). Eyes peered out of windows and doors.

It was nice to once again be somewhere that was both populated and not out for their blood, though it was... odd (at the very least) to all of them, the sort of reverence with which digimon looked upon them.

"Are you who I believe you are?" a voice came from behind the group; when they turned to look, they saw a small black dinosaur, very much like an undersized _T. rex_. He was perhaps three feet tall; he had big green eyes and three claws on each hand and foot. His tail was stubby, while his head and snout together rivaled the size of the rest of his body.

Rajamon stepped forward (... backwards, whatever), but said nothing, because he knew they would get their introduction in the form of...

"Virtue Warriors at your service!" Efudemon said happily from Simon's arms. From the smile that broke out on the black dino's face, this was good news.

"You are?" Rajamon said, blue eyes looking the newcomer up from head to toe.

The ebony saurian bowed his head and brought one broad hand in front of himself. "My name is BlackAgumon," he said, straightening himself up. "Loyal servant to the Sovereign. You are searching for something, I assume?"

"More like someone. Or... someone_s_? ... I donno, grammar's not my strong suit," Faris said with a nod, putting his hands on his hips.

"Your point is conveyed," BlackAgumon said, nodding once. "The digimon you seek are that way," he said, pointing one large claw in a direction that was diagonal to the group's current location.

"Rad!" Simon said, giving a thumbs-up yet again; by the time he had done that, however, Andrea and Rajamon had already begun walking; the others (Simon included) were quick to follow.  
>The BlackAgumon, meanwhile, paused and blinked as it dawned on him that he was being left behind.<p>

His composure was dropped like a hot potato as he all but squawked, waving his arms as he trotted after the group of children and their partners. "H-hey! Wait!"  
>(They didn't, but the little black dinosaur caught up in due time.)<p>

The further they went, the more urbanized their surroundings became; rough volcanic-rock ground became smoother and smoother until it seemed paved; buildings grew more and more frequent, until they were running through alleyways and weaving around their corners to maneuver their way through the city.  
>(Perhaps needless to say, Faris had scooped Delfinimon up into his arms quite a while ago.)<p>

They did not realize that not only were they heading towards the threat - the Reapers -, but also that another threat was in hot pursuit of them.

* * *

><p>"So," Rajamon said, looking to BlackAgumon (who had by this time caught up to the front of the pack and was almost leading the way). "The Reapers have already taken Ebonwumon, haven't they?"<p>

BlackAgumon nodded, almost tripping over his own feet- he was trying so very hard to keep his composure. "They have. The swamp is nothing but a chasm, now," he said sadly, shaking his head.

"So if a Sovereign falls, its Area does too?" the tiger mumbled, more to himself than anything.

"That's what Deekamon said a long time ago, Rajamon," Efudemon said from where he clung to Simon's forearm. "You totally should have listened more. He had lots of answers."

"So it's true that Deekamon took you under his wing, then?" BlackAgumon said, sounding a bit in awe.

"Of course!" Kamomon chimed in, nodding. "He prepared us for when our partners would arrive- he taught us a lot."

BlackAgumon nodded slowly, looking over his shoulder to look at the seagull, looking as though he intended to say something. However, his pupils constricted when he looked past the bird - and past the other members of the shuffling assembly.  
>Behind the group, following relatively-slowly but steadily, was a digimon- one that didn't, mind, look particularly amicable. "Sirs and madams, I believe we may have a problem."<br>With that, BlackAgumon _did_ trip over his own feet, falling flat in the middle of the street; this was enough to cause the others to skid to a stop, if only to avoid tripping on the black dino sprawled on the ground in front of them.

"What?" Andrea mumbled, narrowing her eyes as she turned on her heel- as did the others.

The digimon was tall and humanoid, and mostly dark in colouration- save for the shiny silver of his face and his hands. He dragged said hands through the cement and brick walls of the buildings, digging his fingers into the material. Red accents on top of black armor decorated his pectoral area and shoulders; under the armor he wore dark clothing that almost melded in with the protective attire. A tremendous gold belt, like a professional wrestler's championship belt, was settled around his waist, and a very long cream-coloured scarf around his neck.

His heavy boots cracked the pavement as he made heavy steps towards the group. Digimon around were stopping to stare or fleeing as quietly as they could, so as not to draw attention. There were wicked spike-like drills on the digimon's head and shoulder-pads, but perhaps more interesting were the small volcanoes nestled on the back of both of his shoulderblades, spewing out embers and smoke. He lifted his head, glowing eyes focused on the kids and their digimon.

Cue the D-GEAR shpiel.

_PileVolcamon. Mega-level android digimon. A curious digimon that fights using pro wrestling moves as well as the volcanoes on its back in a constant state of eruption. Its Diamond Fist attack needs no explanation, but should be avoided at all costs._

"You shall not impede the Reapers," PileVolcamon rumbled, his voice low.

Faris spoke what was on everyone's minds.

"Well, crap."

Andrea's eyes narrowed, as she dug her heels into the ground, standing steadfast; to her side, Simon did the same, even as he held his puffball partner in his arms.

"Please don't tell us you're going to," Julian said after a moment, though with the tone of resignation in his voice. Of course they were.

"We got this," Rajamon snickered, even though he very much _did not have it_.

"Go!" Andrea snapped, looking over her shoulder at the group as PileVolcamon drew ever closer. "Keep going. Go find the Reapers. We'll catch up." She turned her attentions back to the approaching threat.

"Word up," Simon said, smiling.

"You've gotta be kidding!" Emily said, frowning and shaking her head. "We'll stand and-"

"And let the Reapers get away totally unimpeded," Andrea said, putting a hand on her hip and not looking back at the group. "Go. Come on, it's me and _boy scout_. We got this." (Simon mouthed '_boy scout?_' at Andrea, but he was grinning.)

Julian shot the goggle-head and the girl a _look_, but he slowly nodded, looking to the other four children and their digimon. "You heard them, didn't you?"

"Sir yes sir," Faris said with a salute, which Delfinimon imitated.

Toby nodded, and looked at Simon and Andrea. "Uhm... good luck," he said, and that was the last thing said before those not standing their ground took off again, led by Julian and with BlackAgumon keeping up behind.

"So, 'boy scout'?" Simon said, smirking; he set Efudemon down on the ground, flexing his arms. One flash of light later, and where the little bouncing head was a minute before, the rabbit-of-sorts stood, wielding his paintbrush like a sword.

"Well, it's an accurate nickname. I could call you _Dudley Do-Right_, if you prefer," Andrea replied with a smirk, flipping her hair to make the point.

"Two of you do not run," PileVolcamon rumbled, now standing a mere ten feet away from the pair and their partners. "No matter. Your partners will be made short work of." He spoke without much emotion in his voice, flat of tone, and for that it was actually quite intimidating.

"Bring it." Those two words were spoken by both Egakumon and Rajamon in near-perfect synchronization, who briefly looked at eachother in surprise before re-focusing their attentions ahead.

"Rajamon, kickstart digivolve to... Baghamon!"

Baghamon rumbled low in his throat, tail thrashing as he reared low to the ground. Unlike the cat, however, Egakumon did not begin to digivolve- yet.

"You up for this again?" Simon said, looking at his partner; the rabbit grinned, giving a thumbs-up without looking back.

"You know it, bro."

Andrea and Baghamon both looked upon the other human and digimon (respectively), but they were taken aback quite suddenly when Egakumon began to glow- as did Simon.

"Egakumon, genesis digivolve to... Kisekimon!"

Once more, the orb of light formed and was cut through by twin blades, leaving PileVolcamon to _harumph_ low in his throat- and Andrea to let loose a loud, brash,

"_WHAT THE EVER-LOVING CRAP_."

Baghamon's jaw, meanwhile, just about hit the pavement.

They could almost see the smirk on the newly-formed Mega's face, but he did not respond as he brandished one blade and rushed forward, the metal shining bright.  
>"<strong>Nova Blade<strong>!"

Not about to let himself be felled by the first strike, PileVolcamon began to laugh, low and rumbling. "**Diamond Fist**!"  
>The volcanic digimon reared his fist back as it began to glow- beneath the glow, his knuckles were actually solidifying into diamonds, it would seem. Though PileVolcamon was pushed back by the sword colliding with his body, Kisekimon took the hit a lot less well, no doubt thanks to his relatively slim (at least in comparison) figure.<p>

"Okay, _what the crap_," Andrea repeated as the rabbit samurai was knocked back towards her and her partner, who had been frozen to the ground. "An explanation would be great."

"It is how we reach- I, how at least have reached - Mega," Kisekimon responded, looking (or at least turning his face, as his eyes were covered by the metal visor) to Andrea.

"Where the heck is boy scout?" Baghamon asked, bristling a bit at the sight of his teammate's mega. In return, Kisekimon touched a hand to his own chest.

"Within. Now, if you will excuse me," the rabbit samurai said, standing up straight and dashing towards PileVolcamon, smashing into him before feinting back. "**Rush Hit**!"

All Andrea could think of - _he had done this before and neglected to tell them?_ It wasn't like Simon in the least not to brag, let alone for the rabbit not to be jumping halfway to the moon with ecstacy... And moreover, this was hardly the Egakumon they knew, personality wise.

Another Diamond Fist from PileVolcamon crashed into Kisekimon's abdomen, sending him reeling backwards.

"I'm okay," Kisekimon hissed, getting to his feet and brandishing his sword once more, standing guard between the enemy and the human and her child-level partner.

Well... crap. A Mega - one of their own - and his attacks seemed pretty thoroughly outclassed. PileVolcamon took another step forward, heavy and loud. "You can run," the hostile digimon said, almost taunting. He flexed his fingers in and out of fists, and glowered down at the girl and the tiger.  
>Andrea said nothing; Baghamon growled before suddenly, and without warning, throwing himself towards PileVolcamon.<p>

"**Tiger Gem**!" the tiger cried, gathering light in the jewel on his necklace and firing it - entirely fruitlessly - at PileVolcamon's feet. "**Tiger Gem**! **Tiger Gem**!"

PileVolcamon smirked, and suddenly reared down, the drills on his body beginning to spin and whir. "**Volcanic Piledriver**!" he called, smashing his body into the cat- and effortlessly sending him flying, crashing into a building, where the cat instantly began to glow. Within seconds, he had reverted to Rajamon. Andrea, of course, ran immediately to his aide, while Kisekimon took advantage of the moment while PileVolcamon straightened up.

"**Double Blader**!" the once-rabbit called, crossing his blades into an X as they began to glow, smashing them into his target's torso and slashing down and outwards.  
>Valiant an effort though it was, and it did push PileVolcamon backwards with a few stumbling steps, Kisekimon was once more greeted with an attack for his troubles.<p>

"**Diamond Fist**!"

Kisekimon grunted, clutching his swords tight- he dug his heels in and avoided skidding back too far, and did not fall off of his feet, but instead was met by PileVolcamon grabbing him by the neck and pulling him in.  
>"I wonder what happens when you destroy a digimon with a core like yours," PileVolcamon mused- if his voice had any tone to it at all it might have been breezy and nonchalant. He followed it with a chuckle, monotone and <em>infinitely creepy<em>.

Of course, he meant _a human core_- or as it was, a partially-human core. Regardless.

Andrea snapped her head up, looking away from her partner after making sure he was okay (he had grinned up at her rogueishly and replied "as if I wouldn't be" when she aksed). Her mind was drawing a total blank; she couldn't think of a word, a thing to do.

"Andrea?" Rajamon asked (a bit croakily), looking up at his human partner. "We gonna do this or what?"

"Andrea!" Kisekimon's voice broke through the haze in her mind. "Gimme a hand h-ck!" The samurai was cut off by PileVolcamon lifting him up higher, rearing his free hand back with knuckles glowing. "H-help!" he choked out.

Immediately, Rajamon leapt forward, and began spitting out blasts of fire. "**Prince Fire**! **Prince Fire**! **Prince Fire**!"

All other thoughts were thrown out of Andrea's head at that- and she was overwhelmed with a painful thought. _They were unable to help._ As long as she couldn't trigger Rajamon's next digivolution, they were as good as useless- and one of their teammates was paying for it. She watched the flames her partner spat, dissipating totally harmlessly against PileVolcamon's body.  
>Not just him- but <em>everyone.<em> Who knew what could happen to them- not to be arrogant about her own battle prowess, but it was always either Rajamon or Egakumon that was the first to leap up to protect. With both of them here...

"Rajamon?" Andrea said, clenching her hands tightly into fists as she looked straight at the ground.

"Yeah?" the tiger said, looking up at her as he stopped attacking.

"Let's trash this jerk."

Rajamon began to glow white, tinted slightly with orange that made it look like fire, flames licking away as they engulfed the tiger paws-first; Andrea's own fingers and feet began to do the same, the light crawling up her arms and legs.

**True warrior of the Virtue of Bravery; this is your genesis.**

When Andrea looked up again, her eyes - sclera and all - blazed orange, Rajamon's eyes going up in the same brilliant light. The light slid smoothly until their bodies were covered by it before it expanded to surround them. Its edges danced like fire, faint images flitting across the surface, distorted by flame.

"Rajamon, genesis digivolve to..."

If it felt warm when Simon and Egakumon melded together to form their Mega, it was searing hot when Andrea and Rajamon combined, but the heat was completely ignorable; it was warm, the heat registered, but not the pain of burn.

As one, their form became - like Kisekimon - tall and humanoid. Unlike their comrade, however, the new body was not slender and slight, but packed tight (and abundantly) with muscle. (This is a more dignified way of saying that this new body was _buff_.)

The new body remained quite animal-like even as it took on human form, face still that of a cat and body still wholly covered in fur - vivid red on all except muzzle, chest, and belly. A deep scar, shaped like a curved, upside-down V, marred his pectoral area. Around the head, a mane grew, shaggy and long as it settled around his neck. Two dark stripes ran on his forehead, in between two short black horns that grew there; another two sharp horns sprouted from through the fur of his mane.

He once again sprouted a second tail as the other grew long, but the second settled around his waist to hold a loincloth-like garment in place; it was blue, edged in yellow, with the emblem of their Virtue in white. Black bands lashed around his upper legs, three per leg.  
>This was not the only part of his body that was duplicated; from his shoulderblades, two new arms formed painlessly, as well-muscled as the extant arms. Around all four arms, grey gauntlets surrounded the forearms, fastened at the elbows by golden rings. Similar golden rings snapped into place higher up on the upper arms; black boots with yellow accents were fastened by similar metal bands. Two sharp golden claws extended from the fronts of the boots.<br>In all four hands, a golden blade handle materialized; fittingly, what followed was a silvery blade, curved to the point where the blade was almost a half-circle.

Wielding the quartet of blades in perfect sync, even with four arms, the tiger's final form slashed through the light, the swirling orb exploding into embers as he did. He stepped forward, and blowed out a puff of fire from his mouth before he announced himself.

"**ImperialBaghamon**!"

"Oh god what the crap, I never thought I'd feel what it's like to _be a dude_," Andrea rambled from within; ImperialBaghamon himself chuckled, both in reaction to his partner and as a way to set the tone, so to speak.

_Together, Andrea, we are a warrior,_ his voice rumbled in her ears- only in her ears.

"Were I you, I would set the rabbit down," however, was what he said out loud, folding the frontmost of his two pairs of arms, while the rear two remained raised. All four hands gripped their weapons, their blades pointed towards the ground.

PileVolcamon looked at the newly-formed lion-like digimon, and his glowing eyes narrowed. He did not, however, drop Kisekimon; the rabbit-samurai made a sort of choked noise that would be hard to mistake for a real world. PileVolcamon's free hand remained glowing and poised to attack, almost like a dare.

A few more seconds passed in silence, before ImperialBaghamon smiled slow. "You've made your choice, then. So be it. **Imperial Saber**!"  
>One of his blades - the one in his 'first' right arm - was engulfed in flame and he lunged forward, slashing it right across PileVolcamon's chest, narrowly avoiding hitting Kisekimon. It succeeded, however; PileVolamon cringed, dropping his captured digimon.<p>

"Be a bit more careful next time, if you please," Kisekimon mumbled, but nodded his thanks.

"We got this," Andrea mused from the inside. "Bunnyboy should go ahead and try to catch up to the others.

"Go," the lion said after a short nod, looking to Kisekimon. They could almost see his brow furrow behind his visor. "The others need your help. We will take care of matters here." ImperialBaghamon looked pointedly at PileVolcamon, who glared in return.

"And leave an ally in battle?" The smirk on Kisekimon's face was almost audible.

"We don't need your help!" ImperialBaghamon snapped, snarling, but quickly calmed down when the samurai was plainly taken aback and hurt, shaking his head. "... my apologies. I simply mean thatI've already had to bail your tail out once, and if the others run into the Reapers they're going to need you a great deal more than we will. Protect them should they need it."

Kisekimon paused, before he slowly nodded. "Your point is made." He sheathed his twin swords before he turned, taking off as soon as he was facing the correct direction, running with body tilted forward and close to the ground.  
>The tiger darn well couldn't have given the reason that Andrea's heart - soul, being, core, whatever it was - was speaking to him. The girl seemed relieved that he hadn't.<p>

Andrea couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the feeling of what was going on- first of all, the oddness of feeling a tail on her (their) body, and extra pair of (incredibly buff) arms attached to her (their) shoulderblades- but also the warmth. Like Simon before, she felt the pulse of power surging deep within, crackling like a warm flame and spreading its heat through every inch of her (their) body.

PileVolcamon glared at the tiger for a moment, before... he, too, turned away, and took off with quite startling speed for how slowly he had come on the approach. A cloud of ash spewed from the volcanoes on his shoulders helped to obscure his getaway.

ImperialBaghamon growled low, a lip curled back, before he threw himself forward in pursuit. His feet thumped against the ground, claws digging up small bits of the pavement.

"Of course he runs," Andrea remarked, flat of affect.

_I don't particularly expect much less of Era's troops,_ ImperialBaghamon replied to his partner, eyes narrowed.

"**Diamond Fist**!" a voice cried from behind them, smashing straight into the center of ImperialBaghamon's back. He roared, stumbling forward and whipping around; there, indeed, was PileVolcamon.  
>Every pound of force behind the attack racked through their body; something in Andrea's mind went off, saying that were she in fully human form, in her own body, the attack probably would have been fatal on a good day.<p>

Where his rabbit-eared comrade might have made a remark, ImperialBaghamon did no such thing; he merely growled, and temporarily, his blades faded away into light, allowing him to clench his hands into fists, and all four of his hands were thrust forward.  
>"<strong>God Fists<strong>!" he roared, and his hands began to crackle with fire. A glowing aura, sparking like fire, was formed from these flames, and charged forward at PileVolcamon, taking the form of a roaring lion for a split second before it smashed into its target. When he relaxed his hands, his four curved blades returned to him.

PileVolcamon glowered at the cat, before suddenly he curled close within himself, hurling his entire body at ImperialBaghamon as the drills scattered across his body began to whir.  
>"<strong>Volcanic Piledriver<strong>!"

"**Fire Wave**!" ImperialBaghamon countered, leaping backwards as he opened his mouth. He let loose a rumbling, earth-shattering roar, and along with the sound out spilled a river of fire, flowing like water and engulfing the charging digimon.

This was not enough to stop the oncoming attack, and even through the fire PileVolcamon charged on until he smashed into ImperialBaghamon. However, when he brought himself to full posture once more, he looked quite more visibly exhausted- or at least, hurt.

"I was going to be so offended if that didn't work," Andrea remarked from within her partner's core.

_Breathing fire is a staple of any good fire elemental's repetoire, after all,_ her partner replied.  
>Despite his jovial tone as he 'spoke' with his partner, ImperialBaghamon stood still for a moment. After a short delay, he lowered his arms, shaking his head.<p>

_There's no point to this. It's a distraction- another one. A way to waste our time. We should just go find the others,_ his voice said to Andrea.

After a moment, Andrea nodded (or, she would, had she a physical presense, but the intent came across regardless). "Let's. They're probably gonna get hurt or something." She sounded half-sarcastic, half-sincerely concerned.

As the lion turned, PileVolcamon reared his hand back. "**Diamond F-**!"  
>Blindingly fast, ImperialBaghamon turned, gripping PileVolcamon's wrist with crushing force with one hand.<p>

"Don't," he said, his voice terrifyingly cold considering his fiery calling. He held his three free hands aloft, their blades beginning to crackle with fire. "I will grant you the _privelege_ of leaving and living."

Before he got a response, the earth below their ground began to shake, a deafening rumble reaching their ears. ImperialBaghamon's pupils constricted.  
>No. This wasn't possible. They <em>couldn't<em> have reached it this fast, if they had only gotten this far to start with today...

"Explain!" ImperialBaghamon roared at PileVolcamon, his muscles tensing.

PileVolcamon's eyes crinkled with mirth, and he shook his head. "It's too late," he rumbled. "**Volcanic Piledriver**!"  
>With that, he wrenched his wrist out of the feline's grip, and folded in close into himself again. His drills began to spin, and before his target had the chance to get out of the way, he smashed into ImperialBaghamon.<p>

The cat let loose a roaring snarl of pain as he was knocked backwards and to the ground. He quickly returned to his feet, his eyes narrowed.  
>"You've made your choice. <strong>God Fists<strong>!"

Once more his blades disappeared, and his hands glowed bright. Punching forward, the lion-shaped aura burst forth, smashing into PileVolcamon. As the flame dispersed, PileVolcamon let loose a moaning roar, rearing his head back as he went up in a burst of data, leaving only an egg to fall to the ground.

ImperialBaghamon picked the digitama up into one of his massive hands, frowning.

"We have to catch up with the others," Andrea said quickly, and at her bidding the lion-like digimon turned his head in the direction they had been heading.

_Agreed,_ her partner said, nodding his head. "I have a bad feeling." He set the egg back down, shaking his head. Without another moment of delay, he moved to begin running- but before he had even ducked into the alley, however, the sky suddenly dimmed; it wasn't as dark as, say, it had been in the previous Area, but it was like the last limbs of a sunset- even though the sun was still visible hanging in the sky above.

A blaze of fire went up in the sky, a pillar shooting towards the sky. In it, a shape - dark only in comparison to the incandescent flame around it - rose, spread its wings wide, and keened, the ground rumbling beneath them as the tremendous volcano at the heart of the Area began to erupt.

"Zhuqiaomon," ImperialBaghamon spoke aloud, even though he barely breathed. His pupils constricted, his body frozen. But... it didn't seem that the Area was crumbling. It wasn't shaking like the Floating Ruins had, it was merely rumbling like an earthquake- or a volcanic eruption. Go figure.

"What on earth is going on?" Andrea inquired.

_I don't know,_ ImperialBaghamon replied, shaking his head. _But... he was lying. He had to be. This isn't what would happen if... ... let's find them._

The humanoid cat took off again, even though it was harder to keep his footing solid on shaking ground; before long, Kisekimon dropped alongside him from off a building, before he had rejoined with the group.

"Why didn't you catch up with the others?" ImperialBaghamon said, cocking an eyebrow; neither stopped running, but his tone was almost casual.

"You helped me- us. Only fair to be ready to return the favor, you know?"

"Idiot," the cat rumbled, but side-by-side the two Megas ran.

Even as they ran, Andrea's voice spoke up inside of her partner's head. "Why the heck did throwing ourselves into danger this time work?"

_Pardon?_

"Unlike... Narakamon. It feels like it should have done the same thing. Throwing ourselves against an outmatched opponent."

There was a moment of silence, as ImperialBaghamon thought it over. _We weren't seeking out trouble this time. We were protecting someone else. That's what makes it different._

Andrea would have frowned thoughtfully, had she a face with which to make the expression.  
>"So... this worked because I had to cover the butts of Bugs Bunny and the Boyscout. Great."<p>

_Do not downplay yourself. We needed to be strong enough to protect our allies- our friends. You always have been. We just needed the chance to prove that we could._

"But that doesn't mean anything. I can just rush into crap to save people's butts, but I can't actually _do_ anything to-"

ImperialBaghamon interrupted her, but even so, his voice grew quiet, sincere. _Your heart is just as much of a lion's as mine is, Andrea. I can feel it, as you feel mine. Do not dismiss yourself._

She had nothing to say.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for them to catch up, as their friends had similarly frozen, in various states of confusion and worry; BlackAgumon, for his part, was panicking his little head off.<p>

Julian was the first to step forward, eyes narrowed as he looked at the two new-to-them digimon. "What do you want?"

"Calm it, bub," ImperialBaghamon said, smirking. "We're friends. Allies. The good guys."

"And then some," Kisekimon added, pulling his swords out and twirling them dramatically.

Kamomon suddenly let loose a squawk of surprise, something dawning on him. "It's you- them- you!" He cawed, flapping his wings wildly and lifting a few inches off the ground, entirely by this haphazard, half-panicked, and thoroughly _undginified_ motion.

Iguamon shot a sidelong glance at his avian teammate, but narrowed his eyes in scrutiny at the two Megas standing before them, before his pupils constricted visibly and he was physically taken aback, struck silent.

"Wha...?" Toby mumbled while the sheep digimon beside him let out a small gasp of surprise.

"It's- Egakumon and Rajamon," Lammon said, looking up at her partner and unable to wipe the impressed, reverent look off of her face.

The humans paused and stared; it was Emily who spoke up first, though she had to cup her hands over her mouth to be heard over the commotion.  
>"So where are your partners?"<p>

Both Kisekimon and ImperialBaghamon touched one hand to their chest to indicate; Sampamon bowed her head while Delfinimon murmured:  
>"That's deep, yeom." The dolphin looked up, then, her face now sincere. "You're serious?"<p>

"As a heart attack," Kisekimon replied, nodding his head.

"... of all the things I want an explanation for, and _do_ believe me when I say there are a lot of said things," Julian said, slowly and completely deadpan, "this is now number one."

"We'll try to explain."

"We will hold you to that," Julian said, but he couldn't help but smirk a tiny bit.

Right now, though?

They could likely be forgiven if they were mostly preoccupied, what with the volcano going off in the distance, causing the earth to tremor below their feet, and the tremendous bird in the sky dancing amongst the flames.


	37. Chapter 37: Like a Kamikaze

Even as the ground shook beneath them, the ragtag troupe of children and digimon couldn't afford to lose any ground; the group ran forward, the stampede of feet pounding a cadence against the crumbling concrete. Kisekimon and ImperialBaghamon led the charge, completely unsurprisingly, though they had to slow themselves to avoid leaving their teammates in the dust.

After a great deal of moving - and with no sign of the Reapers - they were reaching the other side of the city, the buildings thinning out and the street vanishing once again into crumbling ground. They had a clearer view of the great volcano, though there was still a small ridge of mountains between there and where the group was at present.  
>The sun was starting to hide behind the far side of the crater; the shaking had died down somewhat, but the volcano kept up its eruption, and was joined by smaller ones here and there; more than once they had to alter their course to avoid running into fresh streams of lava.<p>

(Julian would have complained about _we should be roasted alive being anywhere near this stuff, convection does not work that way_, but Faris was quick to nip his brother's complaints in the bud with a _bro, digital world, shut up and go with it_.)

"Zhuqiaomon must be- hold on!" BlackAgumon squawked, flailing his arms as he nearly tripped over his feet; Lammon was quick to assist him, and they continued running. "He must be trying to scare Era's soldiers away," the little black dino explained- and in doing so, failed to notice that the group on the whole had suddenly ceased movement, causing him to crash into Toby.

It wasn't hard to see why they stopped so suddenly.

Walking along as though he were strolling down the street to go the corner market- or, really, anything that wasn't _walking through an area currently being racked by eruptions and earthquakes_ - was a familiar lanky shape. His hands were folded behind his back and his yellow eyes were peering up at the erupting volcano, the firebird silhouetted in the sky, as though it were simply a mildly interesting headline on a slow news day.

... the point of the previous statements: Deekamon was weird.

"Deekamon?" Kisekimon blurted, his face (presumably) falling and his body following suit, more out of surprise than anything.

The hoodie-wearing digimon turned his head to look at the group, and the big cheshire-cat grin on his hoodie was probably very akin to his actual expression. "Heyo," he said with a lilt in his voice, nodding his head and waving one big claw-like hand as though he didn't even notice the two megas and the apparent lack of two humans- or more likely, wasn't surprised by any of it. "Follow me."

"Crazy loon!" ImperialBaghamon groaned, clapping two of his hands to the sides of his head in a show of exasperation.

"I'm not even surprised, at this point," Luke couldn't help but remark, shaking his head.

"Well- follow him!" BlackAgumon said, once more waving his arms as though he were trying in vain to fly.

It was hard, even for the two Megas, to keep up with the eccentric mentor; though he zig-zagged in order to cover less forward distance and thus allow the others to keep up, he moved quickly. He darted from side to side like a little purple pinball made of fabric, his loose sleeves of arms flapping freely behind him as he ran.

"What is he trying to do?" Emily mumbled, half to Kamomon and half to herself, furrowing her brow and shaking her head.

By this point, they were approaching the foots of the (considerably shorter, thankfully) hills and rounded peaks that formed a barrier between them and Zhuqiaomon's volcano. If they looked, just beyond the crest of the hills they could see occasional bursts of fire, the phoenix himself swooping around in the sky and keening loudly.

But there was something far more important at hand; suddenly, by a dark shape, Deekamon was bodily knocked backwards, his light body sent flying with ease, as he tumbled backwards into the group.  
>Had this been a cartoon, there would have been little Biyomon circling his head, and his yellow eyes would have turned to spirals.<p>

The digimon still in Child level rushed to inspect their mentor and assure that he was well- even BlackAgumon accompanied, big green eyes looking over the hoodied digimon with an expression of concern.  
>"I'm okay," Deekamon assured, but very much sounding like he had been punched in the face. (He <em>had<em> been punched in the face, after all.) "Been a while since I've seen _you_," he added, looking at BlackAgumon for a moment. "You were bigger last time."

These words were more or less lost on the others, as they were a bit... preoccupied. Kisekimon and ImperialBaghamon gripped their bladed weapons, eyes scanning for whatever it was that knocked Deekamon back.

"Hello," a familiar voice droned, and they could see the small dark shape to whom the voice belonged.  
>PicoDaemon was perched atop a boulder, his wings wrapped around him- presumably. They could only see him once he opened his wings, as though opening them cast away a veil of shadow. "I'm simply here to inform you that you're not going to be interfering. Especially not him," the small Digimon said, looking at Deekamon critically.<br>Without another word, he flew away- before anyone, Mega or not, could move to attack or apprehend the little Reaper.

"What's going on?" Julian said, _immediately_, in his usual blunt way. He folded his arms and looked pointedly up at the plume of fire still erupting beyond the hills. "A straightforward answer would be ideal, if possible."

Deekamon, in true form, _did not answer_; instead, he stood up. Impassively, casually, he merely looked up after PicoDaemon, and then to ImperialBaghamon and Kisekimon. "Aren't you going to follow him?" he said conversationally.

Kisekimon looked at the purple-hoodied digimon for a moment before he nodded. He actually grabbed ImperialBaghamon by one of his (bowling-ball-sized) biceps in order to drag his teammate along with him. Though the cat made a rather undignified squawk, he followed without much resistance, the pair darting up the hill.

As soon as the pair did so, Deekamon folded his hands behind his back, watching; he then began to walk, looking over his shoulder. "Well, come on," he said to the group, cocking an eyebrow under the shadow of his hood  
>Though still confused as ever, the group wasted no time in following hot on the heels of their teammates; Deekamon was walking slower than the others. BlackAgumon gave the mentor a curious look as he passed; the only reply that Deekamon gave was a smile (probably).<p>

"That was a blatant answer dodge," Julian said, falling back to walk alongside Deekamon. Iguamon was alongside his partner, saying nothing. "More blatant than usual. What's going on?"

"Well, come on," Deekamon said, turning to look at the boy, still smiling. "Where'd the fun be if I told you everything? You're pretty good at finding it out yourself, after all."  
>With that, he suddenly shot forward like he was thrown out of a slingshot, bolting up past the rest of the group.<p>

Iguamon looked up at Julian, who looked prepared to rip his hair out in frustration.

"He's crazy, but there's a method to his madness," Iguamon said quietly. "If he's not telling us something, there's usually a reason."

"He's hardly told us anything," Julian grumbled.

"He's right, though," Iguamon said, and then went remarkably silent. Julian cast him a look that was not returned; the dinosaur's eyes were fixed on the ground ahead. The boy nodded, and they ran forward to re-meet with the rabble that was the group.

* * *

><p>"Oh, geeze," Simon remarked to Kisekimon as the two megas of the team crossed the crest, the peak of the hill; below them, there was an indented valley, and before them was the great volcano, reaching for the sky and spewing lava to the point where the indented land below it was becoming flooded with molten rock.<p>

And they could see two dark shapes running on the still-uncovered land, darting this way and that; their silhouettes were highlighted by the glowing viscous liquid around them. (Admittedly, part of the lava was cooling into a hard black crust, but as soon as one part cooled another part was grazed over once more, engulfed in the searing-hot ooze.)

"No prizes for guessing who those are," ImperialBaghamon drawled, folding two of his arms while the other two raised, their blades clenched tightly.

The remaining five children (plus Deekamon, plus BlackAgumon) were not terribly far behind, running up alongside the pair- just in time to see a helix of fire shoot down to the ground, smashing into the ground just ahead of one of the shapes - Javermon.  
>In the air, Zhuqiaomon - just as huge as Azulongmon, and roughly ten times as angry - flapped his wings, sending down jets of fire. However, try as he might the three Reapers were moving fast- fast enough and small enough to avoid the giant jets of fire.<p>

"Let's go," Kisekimon said, pounding one fist into the other before he unsheathed his swords. ImperialBaghamon cracked his knuckles (all of them).

"Like I needed an invitation." The heat radiating off of the lava below them was downright energizing to him, and he let his lips curl back into a grin.

"Don't hurt yourselves!" Lammon said meekly as the two threw themselves bodily down the slope.

To make any progress, they had to move quickly- hopping from cooled part to cool part of lava, feinting this way and that to stay on the solidified bits. (Those watching from the hill could actually _hear_ Julian's jaw clench from the sheer force of how he wanted to yell, _heat convection does not work that way_.)  
>Any progress they made was slow, as more molten rock kept piling on top of that which was already there- in addition to the fact that Zhuqiaomon was still in foul moods, flapping his wings to send down tremendous spirals of flame. The bird was thankfully fairly decent - intentionally or not - at not aiming them towards the two, but that was beside the point, as it was quite possible for them to fall into the line of (literal) fire regardless.<p>

"Are we just going to sit up here and watch?" Emily said, looking at the D-GEAR in her hand

"Not a chance, yeom," Delfinimon replied, grinning. However, before she could do anything, they were interrupted.

"I've told you once," said a familiar voice again, accompanied by the flapping of wings, "you're not going to interfere. I don't like repeating myself."  
>PicoDaemon - wherever he had come from - was now right in their line of sight, flapping his wings slowly and lazily to hover in the space in front of them.<p>

"Stay back," Deekamon mumbled. With that, the purple digimon threw himself forward, a yellow and purple aura slowly creeping up his body. "**Deja Vu**!" he called, throwing one hand out; the aura surged to that hand and flew out towards PicoDaemon.

The little bat-winged digimon merely snorted and spread his wings, releasing a cloud of black energy, shuffling and scattering like insects. "**Dark Swarm**."

The insects met the glowing aura and they canceled eachother out, dispersing into nothingness.  
>PicoDaemon narrowed his eyes, suddenly flying at Deekamon, blindingly fast. He grabbed into the hood with his short clawed feet, grabbing at the fabric with his arms. PicoDaemon growled, flying backwards once he got a good grip on Deekamon's face, and yanked backwards, releasing the claws holding the hoodie. Both the sweatshirt and the stockings crumpled to the ground.<p>

What he held in his hands was a small black digimon, hardly any bigger than any of the partner digimon's Baby II forms; he was simply a little black head with yellow eyes and two ear-like protrusions atop his head. Two black hands - each with three fingers and a thumb - floated along with the head, as though connected by strings to the head.

"I'll be taking care of this," PicoDaemon muttered, but not before the very small body gripped in his claws began to glow.

"**Extend Arm**!" the little black, de-clothed Deekamon called, and even without his hoodie his hands began to glow. He smashed both fists into PicoDaemon, forcing the other digimon to drop him with a cry. The de-clothed Deekamon floated backwards, levitating in the air and glaring.

A series of flashes of light left four perfect-level digimon - Nimbimon, MetalShayumon, Ospreymon, and HebiDramon - standing behind Deekamon. The sheep pawed at the ground with one hoof, while the other three dug their claws into the ground.

The observant might notice that one of the team had not reached Perfect- in fact, he hadn't even bothered to digivolve. Iguamon stood next to his human partner, arms folded, lips tight- much like Julian himself was standing.

In fact, while his teammates fired off attacks (all of which were effortlessly dodged by the diminutive Reaper, his own mouth shut tight- and surprisingly dealing no return attacks)...

"**Nightfall Sniper**!"

"**Orb Bomb**!"

"**Seeker Torpedo**!"

"**Gale Storm**!"

... Julian slunk away, saying nothing. Iguamon silently followed; they were staying mostly up on the top of the crest, using the cover of the flashy attacks and clamor to slip away unnoticed.  
>Except by BlackAgumon, who was presently cowering behind Nimbimon, until he caught sight of the eldest child splitting away.<p>

"What are you doing?" the little black dinosaur said to his fellow dino and to Julian, tromping over- and likely just very happy to have an excuse to slip away, himself.

Julian cast a sideways glance at BlackAgumon, raising an eyebrow. "Standing around like that isn't going to do anything," he said bluntly, then looked to his own partner.

Iguamon nodded.

"Iguamon, kickstart digivolve to... Velocimon!"

The newly-formed Adult-level dinosaur shook his mane out, flexing his jaw and his claws, as Julian hoisted himself onto his partner's back.

"So I'm going to go figure it out myself," Julian finished, as though nothing could be simpler; BlackAgumon only had a moment or two to blink. He didn't even get a word out before Velocimon kicked off and broke into a run, streaking down the hillside and towards the growing pool of lava.

Behind him, he didn't notice that PicoDaemon was finally retaliating.  
>"<strong>Daemon Disease<strong>," he said plainly, bowing his head; a red mist was created in the air around him, and he used his wings to disperse it towards the group.

"Cover your noses and mouths!" Nimbimon cried; the humans wasted no time doing so; they and Deekamon seemed to avoid breathing it in, but their partners couldn't.  
>The sheep's warning was all that could be gotten out before the partner digimon were howling in pain, and that <em>did<em> go noticed. Julian looked over his shoulder and frowned.

Okay, so he had a bit less time than he was anticipating. He could deal. They'd just have to go a bit faster.

Squashing down every protesting thought in his head, he clung tight as Velocimon launched himself off the hillside and took a great leap onto a cooled patch of rock and landing as lightly as he could.

"Get to the volcano," Julian instructed, holding tight to his partner's mane. "Quicker is better."

* * *

><p>The digimon back up on the hill were temporarily blinded, feeling as though their odies were burning from the inside out. By the time it dissipated, Deekamon was himself flitting around, his body - tiny without his clothes - proving to be an even harder target than PicoDaemon himself.<p>

This was a good thing- because PicoDaemon was absolutely _not_ holding back with the others incapacitated and staying out of his way. His voice was more of a snarl than they had ever heard it - more, in fact, than his fellow Reapers had ever heard - as he called out attack after attack.  
>"<strong>Cross Nail<strong>! **Cross Nail**!"  
>He slashed his arms through the air, sending red whips of energy at the little black head that was Deekamon; Deekamon did not strike back, only dodging away- and trying to draw the attacks away from the kids and their partners.<p>

HebiDramon groaned, writhing her long body to try and shake away the nausea and pain. Though she didn't entirely, her vision was returning; she growled, rearing her back up.  
>"<strong>Needle Cannon<strong>!" she called, the hair on her back starting to stiffen up and clump into needles. They shone brightly for a second before a spray of them fired at PicoDaemon.

The needles smashed into the little demon's back, sinking in; he snarled, turning on the snake-dragon with constricted pupils.

"**Cross Nail**," he hissed low, slashing his claws through the air again, this time aimed at HebiDramon. She let out a roar of her own, thrown impressively backwards; she was only saved from skidding halfway back down the hill by digging her claws into the ground. Even as she did, however, her body began to glow. She repressed it, clenching her jaw and focusing; soon, the glow died down, and she remained in HebiDramon form.  
>Luke, needless to say, immediately ran to inspect his partner.<p>

"Hey," Deekamon said, flexing his fingers and glaring at the Reaper- and a smirk was on his face. "Focus on the one you're after, right? I mean, it's not like you haven't wanted to rip my face off for a long time, and now you finally have the chance and all that..."

"He's going to _kill you_ if you let him!" HebiDramon cried, cutting over his casual banter. The dragon cringed, clenching her eyes tight as she pulled herself upright.  
>That was right- even if Era's goons weren't going to try and kill the kids, there was absolutely nothing stopping them from going after Deekamon himself.<p>

"Well, I think you know what this means, yeom," MetalShayumon said, clenching her fists. "Deekamon, get out of here. We've got this."

Deekamon looked up at the cyborg shark, before he grinned as he dove for his purple hoodie and stockings again. A moment later, his form rose up, the clothes once more psychically animated.  
>"I'm proud to call you my charges," Deekamon said, bowing his head. "I will find you once you are done here. If you get any eggs, I'm going to want to see them," he added, audibly smirking, before he suddenly took off running towards the volcano.<p>

PicoDaemon looked like was about to follow, but Ospreymon flew right into his path, yellow eyes glaring and wings beating hard.

"I wouldn't reccomend it, laddie."

PicoDaemon growled, then grinned lopsidedly as his claws began to glow.

* * *

><p>Velocimon, with Julian lying low and clinging to his back, had reached the foot of the volcano; he was throwing himself around its base with long strides, careful to dodge this way and the next to avoid the gooey, burning-hot strands of lava that were oozing their way down the mountainside.<br>(Even if anywhere within a few yards of the lava failed to spell fatal burning, neither Julian nor Velocimon wanted to see if actually stepping in it would have a realistic effect.)

It was, completely unsurprisingly, sweltering hot; he shrugged his vest off and held it with one hand, gripping tight to Velocimon with his free hand and his legs.

At the bottom of the volcano as they turned to a certain point, they could see their two allies on the approach- and their two enemies already darting up a rugged path.

"Nice of you to join us," ImperialBaghamon said, looking at Julian and Velocimon, mostly the latter, "and all ready to fight, too."

"Nice of you to catch up with them," Velocimon replied with no small amount of sarcasm, but he was smirking just a tad, his tail thrashing.

"And can we get on following? Like, now?" Kisekimon said, and didn't wait for a reaction before he began to dash up the path, drawing both swords as he did. The other two - or, rather, three, if one counted Julian on his partner's back - wasted no time in following.

For as tall as the mountain was, between the fact that they were all able to move a great deal faster than they ordinarily would have and the sheer urgency of the matter, it felt like it took no time at all for them to scale it, tromping up the rugged rocky path.  
>This likely wasn't helped by the fact that all of them - Reaper and Virtue Warrior alike - were often simply leaping and climbing up, skipping parts of the path entirely.<br>Julian very nearly dropped his vest as Velocimon decided the best way to ascend in a narrow area was to _wall-kick_. ImperialBaghamon waited on the path, waiting to grab Velocimon's small arms and help drag him up- and helped to stabilize Julian.

"You owe me one, dino-boy," the lion had remarked, smirking.

This was quickly forgotten as before long, they had reached a flat area- not quite to the crater, but the crater itself within view.  
>It was here that Javermon and Epidemon had stopped. Javermon was once again his bestial form, hunched over on all four limbs and breathing heavily, while Epidemon stood beside him, rusted metal wings and bottle-brush feathery tail twitching.<p>

"I hope you don't think you can stop us now," Epidemon said, not turning to look upon them. Instead, he looked to the sky, searching for something.

"Well, too bad, since your hopes'd be wrong," Kisekimon replied, his ears twitching.

Further conversation was cut off by an ear-splitting keen from entirely too close above.

"Well, too bad, since your hopes'd be wrong," Kisekimon replied, his ears twitching.

Further conversation was cut off by an ear-splitting keen from entirely too close above.

_**Blazing Helix**__!_  
>(Notable is while they heard the attack being called, much like Azulongmon's voice before it, it didn't seem to truly be audible- it was a projection of a voice within their minds.)<p>

Everything got even more blistering hot than it had been as a spiral of flame smashed into the flat shelf they were positioned on with impressive force.  
>All of them leapt backwards; both ImperialBaghamon and Kisekimon helped to drag Velocimon and his partner out of the way, while they couldn't see the Reapers through the swirling flames.<p>

However, they could hear.  
>"Where the heck is he!?" Epidemon squawked, his voice grating and <em>annoying<em> above all else.

Javermon, meanwhile, responded only with a long, echoing howl; they could see him, back arched like a bow as he released the unearthly wail into the ash-obscured sky.

"Now's your chance," Julian said, very quietly, looking pointedly, though sidelong, at Kisekimon.

"**Rush Hit**!" Kisekimon called, wasting no time; the second the flames had faded away enough for him to rush through, fist glowing white as he launched himself at Javermon.

Javermon, even though he looked like a big dumb animal in this form, was having none of it. As fast as Kisekimon could move, Javermon was quick to respond.  
>"<strong>Chain of Command<strong>!" he snarled, low and rumbly and barely recognizable as words. He twirled the length of chain wrapped around his arm and then cracked it like a whip. It smashed Kisekimon head-on- and sent him reeling, crashing to the ground on his back.

"I have had _enough_ of chains!" the samurai yelled, pushing himself up.

Any further conversation was cut short quickly by a dark shape dropping into their little battlefield.  
>PicoDaemon had returned- and looked as well as ever, having plowed through the perfect-levels with little trouble. (Even little BlackAgumon had put forth a valiant effort- it was only HebiDramon's protection that had saved the little black dinosaur from a grisly fate. Well, that, and the fact that PicoDaemon had better things to do with his time.)<p>

"Nice of you to show up, Pickles," Epidemon sneered; ImperialBaghamon stifled a snicker by slapping one of his hands over his muzzle at the indignant look that PicoDaemon shot the plague doctor.

"I was..." the little demon said, looking at ImperialBaghamon, Kisekimon, and Velocimon with Julian still on-board; he focused on the last. "Preoccupied."

"Well puppydog is getting torqued, and I'd like to get moving. It's hard wearing a heavy coat in this weather," Epidemon griped, effortlessly side-stepping as ImperialBaghamon rushed at him with a cry of:

"**Imperial Saber**!"

Javermon snarled, bowing his head, before he dug his claws into the rock - the _solid rock_, mind- and began to scale the mountain towards the crater. Epidemon and PicoDaemon were quick to follow, but a keening cry made them at least stop to look over their shoulders.

This was not the cry of Zhuqiaomon - no, it was _Ospreymon_, with the human children and BlackAgumon riding on his back. He spread his wings wide as he alighted. Rushing up the hill after him were the others- MetalShayumon came galumphing up first, followed by Nimbimon on her cloud, with HebiDramon bringing up the back. The late arrivals looked more than a little bit harried, a bit scuffled up, but nonetheless prepared to do what they could.

"Great," Julian mumbled, only half-sincere, but he nodded his head. Okay. Good. The more the merrier. _But this means more people to look after,_ some part of his mind nagged. _Faris, and the kid, too- have to add that into whatever plan I'm pretending I have._  
>Quite clearly, he hadn't quite finished with his little occupation from back in the Dark Woods.<br>... okay, maybe this wasn't do-able.

It was at this moment that Zhuqiaomon himself descended from the flames and landed on the rim of the crater. The eruption of the volcano settled down, the flames dying out; the ashes blocking the sky were beginning to thin, very slowly, allowing more of the last vestiges of the sunset to reach here near the volcano's peak.

It was clearer to see him, now; bold crimson, his wings (all four of them) and back were marked up with yellow and orange flame-like markings. Huge black claws adorned only one set of wings, the lower 'front' half. His neck was adorned with black feathers, matching the black lower half of his beak; yellow feathers poked out from the back of his face, underneath the mask-like structure covering said face.  
>A total of twelve red digicores hovered around his body - six around his neck and six at his tail. His very presence made the temperature rise exponentially, to the point where even ImperialBaghamon was starting to feel a bit toasty.<p>

He was one unhappy bird, four red eyes glaring viciously down at the three Reapers.

_I will not fall to the likes of you,_ Zhuqiaomon's voice boomed, _nor do I need protection at the hands of Deekamon's charges._

_I suggest you vacate,_ the bird's voice from above boomed, adding to his previous statement. Apparently, only to the children and their partners, as Javermon and his cohorts didn't seem to notice this remark. _Do not misunderstand; your efforts are appreciated, but it is not here that you must concern yourself._

PicoDaemon, not hearing the words, obviously did not pay them any mind- as he flapped his wings and began to surge towards the bird.

It was Velocimon who immediately surged upwards, despite his massive level difference- and Julian still clung to his back as the dinosaur leapt up off the slope and smashed his legs into PicoDaemon, forcing the Mega crashing to the ground some distance away from the group, down the mountain.

Behind them, they could hear all heck break loose as the two Megas of the team launched themselves at the two Reapers left behind- and their Perfect-level teammates rushing in to help.

PicoDaemon merely growled up at Velocimon, flapping his wings and releasing a swarm of black insects the second they hit the ground. "**Dark Swarm**," he said in an even voice.

The pitch-black bugs swarmed over Velocimon and Julian alike - or they would have, had Velocimon not suddenly bucked his partner off of his back to take the full brunt of the attack. He let loose a roar before immediately smash-degenerating to his Child form, crumpled on the ground.

_Okay. This was okay. This was still do-able._

Julian's mind repeated those words, but truth be told, he had no idea what he was really trying to do by saying as such to himself, even as he stumbled towards his partner, laying face-first on the ground and unmoving.

"When I am on the side that's losing," PicoDaemon said, voice simultaneously smooth and rough, "I change sides."

"I _really_ hope you're not trying to give me a _join the dark side_ speech," Julian couldn't help but deadpan, not looking up- not looking away from his partner.

PicoDaemon shook his head- body. Whatever. "Simply a wonder that you - adaptability. Change. And yet you cling to a plainly losing side. I find it amusing. I switch sides; you call it opportunitism, I call it adaptability." PicoDaemon looked up, above, to where his two comrades were.  
>"I have no particular loyalty to them, you realize."<p>

This was the most that Iguamon and Julian - or possibly anyone - had heard PicoDaemon talk at once. Though they didn't know as much, that? A definite sign that the little demon's cool had been _one hundred percent lost._

"I stay with them because they're going to win. Era is, that is," PicoDaemon continued, his hazy blue eyes returning their gaze to the boy and dinosaur. "Me, I don't care. I just play to the winning side. If you started to win, I'd start fighting on your side."

PicoDaemon smiled then, and it was a nasty, nasty expression. "But that's not the case, is it?" He paused, looking at the dinosaur on the ground. "**Cross Nail**," he said, nonchalantly, slashing one hand through the air.

This time it was Julian that huddled himself over Iguamon to protect his partner.  
>The second the dinosaur realized what was happening, his red eyes shot open, staring at the human boy. To say that his expression was <em>pained<em> was not even half of it- _he had just taken the full brunt of a Mega's attack_, that was to be expected.

But that wasn't what caused Iguamon to snap his eyes open.

It was after it- when Julian was shaking from the exertion of keeping his body propped up over his partner, that he cocked his head up, eyes shut, and yelled out:

"_Guys! Gimme a hand!_"

And with that, something _happened_. Those two words, that simple concession of a need for help, caused Iguamon to begin to shine bright.  
>Julian himself followed suit.<p>

**_True warrior of the Virtue of Adaptability; this is your genesis._**

Iguamon's red eyes began to shine brilliant green, and as Julian opened his eyes his were much the same; as it had for the two before him, the shine began to engulf the pair before it expanded. This time, the light formed a brilliantly-shining crystalline structure, across which shadowy shapes flickered only temporarily.

"Iguamon, genesis digivolve to..."

The rumbling sound grew deafening as a heavy, strange weight of sorts fell around Julian's consciousness. It was warm as their shapes melded together, the third digimon in a row becoming tall and humanoid; much like ImperialBaghamon before him, however, his face and body retained quite a few features of his dinosaur origins, covered in scales, armed with sharp claws, and a long thrashing tail- plus, of course, the flat, broad snout.

A skull mask once more formed, covering the top of his head; from behind it, the long shaggy mane of hair (blue, changing to red nearer the tips) grew, reaching his upper back at its longest points. Three bony spikes grew on each side of his face, behind the jawbone.  
>Silvery armor with blue accents fell into place, covering his torso; a skin-tight black shirt was underneath, visibly only by the fact that its sleeves continued past the shoulders of the armor, ringed in yellow at the ends. Similar garments appeared around his forearms, existing to pad his arms as skulls snapped on to act as gauntlets, lashed on by black bands - a quick look would confirm them, by the markings across their snouts, as smaller versions of the skull masks on Triassimon's heads.<br>Bits of armor covered his thighs and shins - red for the upper armor, blue and black for the lower, all edged in gold - while a blue loincoth fell into place around his waist.

Where Kisekimon had his swords and ImperialBaghamon had his sabers, a long spear formed in his hands. The rod of it was metal, but both tips - the smaller, more ornamental one at the bottom, and the larger tip with additional spikes at the forefront - looked to be made of bone. He swung his polearm in a manner both graceful and savage, to smash apart the crystalline-shaped energy around him. He twirled it one last time, shifting it into one hand as he stepped forward.

"**WarTriassimon**!"

Neither Julian nor the newly-formed Mega didn't notice that the kids watching from above - not their digimon, as they were understandably a tad preoccupied - were, indeed, watching, witnessing the digivolution.

"Whoa," Toby said quietly, lost under the sound of Faris cheering _very loudly_. (Note that Faris was holding his brother's vest in one hand - it had been dropped when Velocimon had jump-tackled the Mega.)

No, they were more focused on the surreal feeling coursing through them- heart and core pulsing in sync, feeling solid and immovable.

The big difference between these partners and those two that genesis digivolved before them? They had no need to say anything to their opponent, nor eachother. Their wordless understanding of eachother was at its peak.  
>"<strong>Armor Breaker<strong>!" WarTriassimon roared, his spear glowing as he thrust its point towards PicoDaemon, the movement simple and straightforward- and hitting its mark, sending the little demon reeling backwards.

PicoDaemon, in return, saw no need to quip or remark; he closed his eyes and concentrated, a flurry of black fire engulfing his body. "**Inferno Typhoon**," he growled, flapping backwards as the fire shot forward. Much more fire was sent at the dinosaur than had surrounded the little Mega, surging in a wave towards him.

WarTriassimon growled, throwing his arms up to cover his face as the fire licked away at his flesh, accentuating the already searing temperatures to unbearable levels. He snarled, whipping his body fiercely to dispel the flames, which leapt off of him and dissipated.  
>"<strong>Triple Threat<strong>!" he spat, throwing himself forward to all but tackle PicoDaemon, his hands and feet glowing as he began to tear viciously at his enemy.

"**Daemon Disease**," PicoDaemon said coolly, once more creating a red mist around his body; it was unnecessary for him to flap his wings to blow it at the dinosaur, as he was already quite in the demon's personal space already.  
>WarTriassimon growled and spat, reeling backwards as the attack's effects seeped in- it was hard to fight, after all, when consumed by the feeling that your internal organs were being burned away.<p>

PicoDaemon wasted no time, following up with another attack: "**Cross Nail**," he hissed, the red slashes of light were faintly visible even through the dinosaur's mostly-sightless (for the time being) eyes. The whips of energy wrapped themselves around his arms, smashing him backwards into and holding him fast to the rock face behind him.

It was at this moment that feet suddenly touched down alongside WarTriassimon- four of them, actually, as Kisekimon and WarBaghamon stood alongside their ally, weapons drawn.

Perhaps WarTriassimon would have ceased his growls of pain for long enough to ask what they were doing, why they were abandoning their efforts to stop the other two Reapers, but a booming voice from above answered his question:

_**Blazing Helix**__!_

That, followed by a call of attacks from the four Perfect-level digimon still waiting above- there was at least an effort to stall them if naught else. Javermon's snarls of pain and Epidemon's undignitified squawks of surprise were a good enough sign.

"Now, come on, that's no good," Kisekimon said, poised and prepared to strike; his voice had a tinge of _not quite serious_ to it, though not outright sarcasm. "You don't play fair."

"Sorry about the delay on the getting to your aide, scales," ImperialBaghamon said, smriking as WarTriassimon wrenched himself to stand upright, blinking rapidly as his vision returned.

Something in Julian welled up to say that _clearly he had it under control_, new digivolution and such, but he squashed it down.  
>WarTriassimon smiled, though whether it was in response to the tiger, to his partner residing within his core, or a mixture of the two, was left uncertain.<p>

PicoDaemon frowned, snorting. "I am a Reaper," he intoned, closing his eyes. "I hope you understand what you're getting into."

"I think we do," WarTriassimon said simply, gripping his spear with both hands.

"A fight with a coward?" ImperialBaghamon provided, sardonic and wry.

"Something like that," Kisekimon concurred, before he charged forward. "**Nova Blade**!"

"**Dark Swarm**," PicoDaemon said, spreading his wings wide to release a flurry of dark insects.

"**Fire Wave**!" ImperialBaghamon cut in; Kisekimon leapt out of the way with no time to spare. The flames, while they couldn't burn insects that weren't truly made of living matter (data?), did cancel out the attack, as both flame and faux-bug dissipated when they contacted eachother.

It was while PicoDaemon was shielding his face from the embers that WarTriassimon leapt forward. He looked to be poised to pounce upon the Reaper, but instead, he stopped short, smashing his spear point-first into the rock.  
>"<strong>Fault Shift<strong>!"

From the tip of his spear spread a crack through the ground, until it suddenly split apart underneath PicoDaemon's feet, surging sharpened rocks up through the ground and into his target's body.

"**Inferno Typhoon**!" PicoDaemon returned, finally raising his voice; once more, he surged with black fire before it fired at the dinosaur, sending him jumping back to his allies.

Above, another blast of flame heated the battlefield; they could hear the Perfect-levels clattering around to avoid being hit by the phoenix god's blast of fire.

"I'm going to say we should speed this up- call it a hunch," Kisekimon said, looking up to the crater.

"No kidding," ImperialBaghamon grumbled back. WarTriassimon only nodded, prompting the cat to remark, out of the corner of his mouth, to Kisekimon "Doesn't talk a lot, does he? ... less than usual, at least."

WarTriassimon merely looked sidelong at ImperialBaghamon- and smirked.

Without another moment of hesitation, it was Kisekimon that led the charge towards PicoDaemon, sheathing his swords in one smooth motion. "**Blast Burst**!" he cried, holding his now-empty hands out in front of him as blasts of white energy were fired therefrom.

PicoDaemon quickly darted out of the way, though one of the shots of energy grazed him; in return, he merely growled. "**Cross Nail**!" he spat, and within seconds Kisekimon found himself pinned to the ground by the red lashes of energy.

"**God Fists**!" ImperialBaghamon cried, fire leaping from his outstretched fists and towards PicoDaemon.

The little Reaper couldn't flit out of the way fast enough, and so found himself taking the full brunt of the fiery attack. "**Inferno Typhoon**!" he snarled, sending a wave of fire right back at the lion.

"**Armor Breaker**!" WarTriassimon yelled in return, rushing in and smashing his spear into PicoDaemon- humorously enough, he swung his weapon like a baseball bat, with the little Mega serving as a makeshift baseball.

This sent PicoDaemon flying into the wall of rock. He immediately sunk his talon-like claws into it and kicked off again, hurtling towards the dinosaur. He didn't even call an attack, he merely threw himself claws-first at WarTriassimon, attempting to unceremoniously _rip his face off_.

"**Imperial Saber**!"  
>ImperialBaghamon wasted no time in slashing down with the blades held in his two left hands, knocking PicoDaemon out of the air and away from his ally.<p>

Kisekimon, meanwhile, wrenched himself to his feet, rubbing at his wrists before he drew his swords. He stepped over near his allies, looking down at PicoDaemon on the ground.

And then the little demon let out a laugh - hacking, almost _rotten_, and decidedly mocking.  
>"You're not so bad," he said roughly, pushing himself up. "I'd almost consider joining up with you at this rate. What you say?"<p>

"Never," ImperialBaghamon was the first to respond, growling.

"You are a bully," Kisekimon said, gripping his swords.

"A coward," ImperialBaghamon continued, his hands tightening around the grips of his sabres.

"And an opportunist," finished WarTriassimon. "You've hurt our allies and our friends. We've no room for you in war."

PicoDaemon smirked, flapping his wings to rise off the ground. "So be it, then. "**Dark Swarm**!" he cried, but his attack was swiftly cut off.

"**Fossil Storm**!" WarTriassimon roared, smashing his spear into the ground once more. This time, instead of a crack in the ground, from within the rocks rose... skeletons.  
>Familiar skeletons. The forms of Gekomon and Otamamon, of even a SkullSatamon or two, rose up from the ground, all bleached, clattering bones.<p>

PicoDaemon's pupils constricted as the black insects of his Dark Swarm attack dissipated harmlessly against the bones, and they rushed forward at him, scratching and tearing.

When the skeletons dissipated, disintigrating into dust when their attack was done, PicoDaemon was standing on the ground, his stance wavering. His body was flickering- data beginning to show.

And even so...  
>"<strong>Dark Swarm<strong>!" he yelled again, flapping his wings to send the swarm of insects towards the trio.

If they could have said it was intentional, it would have been nice, but what followed was a coincidence of the three acting in sync:

"**Nova Blade**!"

"**Imperial Saber**!"

"**Armor Breaker**!"

All three of the Virtue Warriors' weapons connected with PicoDaemon at once, slashing through the swarm of insects to strike true.  
>PicoDaemon began to laugh, a nasty cackle, as he dissipated into data, leaving only an egg behind.<p>

There was no time to celebrate, however, as they heard a laugh from up above. They turned to look; the dog and the bird-faced digimon had reached the top.  
>And then some.<p>

Javermon was once more in his bipedal form, instead of the bestial one. With one arm shining brightly, he was running towards Zhuqiaomon. Epidemon kept the Perfect-levels of the team (and even BlackAgumon, who was firing little balls of fire - fruitlessly, mind, but still bravely- at him) at bay nigh-effortlessly.

"Grab the egg!" Emily called down, cupping her hands over her mouth in order to be heard; ImperialBaghamon nodded once and scooped PicoDaemon's egg into one hand before he suddenly hurled himself towards the wall, climbing with his three spare hands. Within seconds, he reached where the kids were standing.  
>Quick to follow were Kisekimon - who merely had to leap to make his way back up- and WarTriassimon, who seemed to climb as naturally as he breathed. ImperialBaghamon handed the egg to Emily, before all three Megas surged up the slope towards the two remaining Reapers.<p>

They did not make it fast enough. Just when the three Megas reached the front lines, standing near Epidemon, their - as well as everyone's - ears were split by an earth-shaking keen.

They all looked; they all wished they hadn't.  
>Javermon, the bright light engulfing his left arm and seeping into his chest, was throwing himself straight into the giant red bird, throwing the shining arm ahead. When he touched Zhuqiaomon... the arm sank in.<p>

As if it were nothing, Javermon then planted his feet against the bird's breast, kicking backwards.  
>And then they couldn't hear the sound of their own thoughts for how loud the cry Zhuqiaomon made was. There was something bright and shining in Javermon's own hand as the shine began to fade from his limb proper; Zhuqiaomon himself was beginning to shine, data swirling around his body.<p>

"_**Zhuqiaomon**_!" Kisekimon screamed - in fact, most of the digimon did the same, but he was the first to speak.  
>Not that it was audible over the sounds around them.<p>

"Go!" Javermon snarled to Epidemon as he landed alongside his ally, and they _went_- fast, blindingly fast. Javermon hunched over and howled as he shifted into his quadrupedal form; Epidemon leapt on and hitched a ride on his co-worker's back. Javermon shifted the glowing orb smoothly into his mouth, gripping it with his jaws and freeing his limbs up to carry the two away with long strides.  
>It was a long way back to Era's castle.<p>

The three Megas could no longer hold their forms- three flashes of light later and there once again stood Simon, Andrea, and Julian, each holding their respective Baby II-level partners in their arms- and unable to do much more than stare.

_Go,_ the voice of Zhuqiaomon - sounding strained - was in the ears of the children and their partners. _Baihumon is in the Metal City. Beat them to it._  
>That was the last the bird said before he fell, backwards, into his own volcano, with one final keen. The earth began to shake; the volcano began to bubble and boil, clearly on the verge of eruption.<p>

"Get on my back! Now!" Ospreymon cawed, and the children were quick to obey. Nimbimon, Hebidramon, and MetalShayumon quickly fell back down to their Child forms, accompanying their partners onto the big bird's back.

Toby helped to pull BlackAgumon up; when Ospreymon took off, he was just in time, as a burst of lava was flowing down to where they had been standing a second before.

If they looked down, they could see the ground below them begin to crumble away and fall into an abyss opening up beneath them.

* * *

><p>Ash still hung in the air when the group, on Ospreymon's back, finally reached the western edge of the crumbling Crater Valley. The sun had set by this point, leaving the sky dark even beyond the volcanic cloud slowly settling.<br>They could see, below them, digimon fleeing; the crumbling was spreading from the volcano out. Behind them, they could see the great volcano itself sinking into the ground, less than half its original height and somewhat lopsided as it fell into the darkness threatneing to swallow it up.

"I can't believe it," Cindemon grumbled from his place still in Andrea's arms. "He took down a sovereign like it was _nothing_."

Efudemon, in Simon's arms, was uncharacteristically quiet and solemn; Iguamon was characteristically so- so they were in roughly the same sort of mood, which was a bit bizarre to behold.

Down on the ground, they could see the shapes of digimon fleeing; BlackAgumon was watching as they did, peering carefully over the side of the bird's back.  
>"Are you going to be okay?" Lammon said gently, looking at the little black dinosaur; he was visibly distraught even as he nodded.<p>

This was the first any of them had actually seen the proceedings of an Area's fall- Ebonwumon they had been having an out-of-world experience, and Azulongmon had been behind closed doors within his temple.  
>This was more real- more concrete.<p>

This was something that the kids were having trouble wrapping their heads around.

This was something that for all their lives, the digimon had thought impossible- even knowing of Era, of the lengths Deekamon said he would go to, they never thought for a moment that the death of a sovereign could really happen.

Especially not so _easily_.

Ospreymon landed on the crest of the mountains, and the group looked out before them; they could see nothing, all of the land before them obscured by opaque, foggy clouds.

As soon as his passengers disembarked, Ospreymon returned to Kamomon with a flash, stretching his arms out and sighing. He looked up at the egg that Emily held in her arms, and nodded his head, saying nothing.

"I'm going to say it's quitting time for the night," Andrea said, stretching her arms out; the agreement rippled through the group, shoulders relaxing and remembering the leaden feeling in their limbs.

"If it's okay with you," BlackAgumon said, looking up and around and the kids and their partners. "I'd like to stay with you for the night," he said. "Just the night- once morning comes I'll start looking for... refugees," the dino continued, and his voice broke noticably on the last word.

"Absolutely," Simon said immediately; the others nodded their assent.

All of them were tired- the digimon worn out from their fighting, three of the kids worn out from being a part of said fighting, and the others just plain emotionally drained.

Not wishing yet to _move_, they looked around for anywhere that would serve as a suitable resting place. Finding none that would truly allow them to be hidden, they resigned themselves onto a shelf of rock mere paces from where they stood now.

The group settled, hunkering down as best they could, knowing that on just the other side of these mountains, the area was crumbling apart at the seams- and knowing they were helpless to stop it.

Faris was sitting up- he was on watch, had volunteered for it; a few hours ago his brother had nudged Faris awake, wanting to go to sleep. It was the middle of the night, and occasionally the heat still lingering in the Crater Valley would blow over the mountain and linger for a moment.  
>Faris breathed out heavily; Delfinimon looked over at him.<p>

"What's up, yeom?" she asked, dragging herself over to her partner and placing her head unceremoniously in his lap.

Faris smirked and placed a hand on the dolphin's head, before pulling her goggles down further onto her forehead. Delfinimon huffed mock-indignantly, having to maneuver a bit with her flippers to re-adjust them.  
>"What's on your mind, County Far'?" the dolphin re-phrased herself, before snickering at her own cheesy nickname for him.<p>

"A lot of crap," Faris said, sitting back and leaning on his hands.

Delfinimon tilted her head, looking at her human partner quizzically. She wanted to ask a certain question. She knew that least part of it was what the boy had (almost certainly) overheard a few nights ago... But, judging by his behavior after the SkullSatamon incident...

The boy was in a river in Egypt, so to speak. (That is to say: big, fat, stinking denial.)

"If you got a problem, you're totally welcome to talk to me, yeom. I won't even make fun of you... too much. Promise," the dolphin offered instead, once more placing her head down on Faris' lap.

"Aw, not with the sap," Faris said with a smile. He sighed again, looking out to the horizon. "It just, feels a lot more real, you know?" Delfinimon looked up at him expectantly, and so he continued.

"I mean... I donno. I don't mean to sound like a total jerk here, but... some part of me was clingin' to the idea that it was like, some kind of game. Y'know, I played a lot of video games when I was younger," Faris said, smiling as he thought back. "Jules did too. He'll never admit it, but he _totally_ did. It just... felt like that, kinda?"

Delfinimon nodded, even though she didn't fully grasp it; she understood the point, and that was what mattered.

"But ever since the thing with Azulongmon... and, heck, especially now with Zhuqiaomon, we just saw it... It's more concrete, you know?"

"Been hit with it like a sack full of beans to the face," Delfinimon summed up, nodding her head.

"Even so, though," Faris said after a moment, sitting up straight. His voice was quieter, now. "I... I donno. I kinda don't wanna go home, you know? It's like the real world... doesn't exist here." He smiled at Delfinimon. "I mean, _you_ actually think I'm _funny_."

Delfinimon smiled and nodded back. "Even though your jokes are terrible." She knew, could tell, that the smile on her partner's face was hiding sadness, but she knew better than to try and pry any further for now.  
>He'd tell her when he was ready. Even if she had to tail-slap him until he was ready, now wasn't the time.<p>

Faris rolled his eyes, picking Delfinimon up to sit on his lap proper. "And even though you make me carry you everywhere."

Delfinimon stuck her tongue out and smirked. "Only 'cos you keep letting me get away with it. This one is _totally_ on you, yeom."

Any further conversation was cut short by Luke's voice: "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," the blond boy said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "But you can go to sleep now, if you like. I'll take over."  
>Sampamon, slithering along alongside him, yawned, but nodded her confirmation of her partner's statement.<p>

"Nah, it's cool," Faris said, smiling and nodding. He threaded his arms underneath Delfinimon's flipper-fins and hoisted her up as he stood up.

"Just scream if we get attacked in the night, yeom," Delfinimon said, grinning.

"Scream louder than you think you need to- she sleeps like the dead," Faris said to Luke, rolling his eyes; Delfinimon made an indignant squeak, while Luke merely smiled as he sat down where Faris had been sitting a moment before.


	38. Chapter 38: Pretending I'm a Superman

The sun was risen by now, drifting ever-higher in the sky; Luke and Sampamon still sat awake. The boy had his knees pulled to his chest, with Sampamon lazily coiled on the ground beside him.

Luke almost leapt out of his skin, and quite literally did jump about a half foot in the air from his sitting position when he felt a furry weight on his back. The weight vacated before the boy undignifiedly fell backwards.  
>Sampamon turned her head immediately. The feathers on her head flattened back like a cat's ears, a low hiss escpaing her- only for a moment though, for standing behind them was the familiar form of Deekamon, his arms folded and glowing yellow eyes crinkled with mirth. "Glad we caught you," Deekamon said as if Luke hadn't just been given the biggest jump of his life.<p>

Standing right behind Luke was a digimon, roughly the same size as the other child-levels; a pale-blue monkey with snow-white skin on his face and feet. His ears were big and round; his eyes were similar, a clear crystal blue in colour. His tail had a length of bandage wrapped around it near the end, as did his upper arms. His forearms, meanwhile, were large and rounded, a constrast to the string-bean upper arms. On the back of each limb, two crescent-shaped markings in red stood out against the coarse blue fur. A red bandana or scarf (cape? the back was quite long, its tattered edges nearly reaching his tail) was wrapped around his neck.

"Good morning. Friend of yours?" Luke said, rubbing his head as he sat up straight, looking at the simian digimon.

"Friend of _yours_," Deekamon said in return, "as well as mine."

Luke blinked, his confusion clear on his face. Sampamon, for her part, cocked an eyebrow at the cat-hoodied digimon, then looked back at the monkey. Slowly, realization dawned on her, and her pupils constricted in surprise.

"_Rafikmon_?"

"Tumbilimon, at the moment," the monkey said, smirking. "But yes. It's good to see you two again. Maybe I won't be attacked by a bird with an attitude problem this time."

"I didn't think scaring me half to death was really your style," Luke remarked, but he couldn't help but smile a bit. "So what's this about catching us?"

"The little black digimon you've come into contact with," Deekamon explained, gesturing with one hand. "He's a friend, and yesterday was a bit too... ah, hectic, for me to really talk to him. I'd like to ask him to help Tumbilimon and me out with something."

Tumbilimon, for his part, had already galumphed over to where the black dinosaur was sleeping, propped up against a rock with his claws folded over his belly. The monkey promptly began poking him in the cheek.

"He's... changed," Sampamon remarked, tilting her head.

"Some digimon do, when they digivolve or degenerate. At least, when it's permanent. Not so much for you guys," Deekamon said, folding his arms and nodding. "Even if he's been around as long as I have- it still happens when a digimon is hatched again. Some of our acquired personality flits away with the data that returns to Yggdrasil."

Sampamon frowned, nodding. "I... guess, though I didn't feel much change, though, when I..."

"You're young, though," Deekamon reminded her, nodding his head. He gestured with one hand up to the sky. "The youngest in the digital world. Not like us old-as-dirt digimon."

Slowly, the group a few feet away began to stir- one by one, the humans and their digimon partners stirred to wakefulness at varying speeds. Some expressed a bit of confusion:

"... why... is a monkey poking BlackAgumon," Toby mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and blinking to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was. Lammon shook herself out as she stood up, and then gave her partner a resounding shrug in reply.

Others resisted the whole waking up thing at all; Faris mumbled 'five more minutes' while Delfinimon over-dramatically snored in as a fake a manner as possible. Eventually, though, they were all roused, even if some awoke more willingly than others.

"Gooood morning!" Deekamon exclaimed _entirely_ too loudly, spreading his hands wide. "Don't worry, I'm not here to give you a cryptic load of information," (today, on 'Deekamon's curious self-awareness'), "that comes later. I'm just here to talk to BlackAgumon."

BlackAgumon made an undignified squawking noise as Tumbilimon grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to his feet.  
>"It's been a while," the monkey said, grinning; BlackAgumon paused, and tilted his head, before he grinned right back.<p>

"I am _so_ missing something," Emily said, stretching her arms out above her head.

"Don't worry, we are too- and we got more of an explanation. ... Kind of," Sampamon said, adding the last two words after a moment of thought.

"I will explain myself further when we meet up again," Deekamon said, clapping his hands together. "We'll meet you in the Metal City. I just have something I need to do, and I'd like it if these two," and he gestured to BlackAgumon and Tumbilimon, "could help me with it. I'd prefer not to, ah, spoil the surprise. ... meaning, I'm not entirely sure this will work," he added, putting his arms akimbo then and looking thoughtful.

"Of course I'll help," BlackAgumon said, nodding. He tapped one claw to his chin. "I... had wanted to find some of the refugees from the Crater Valley, thou-"

"Don't worry about it," Deekamon said, waving one hand. "It will be taken care of."

The kids stared and blinked, looking quizzically at the purple-hoodied digimon. BlackAgumon nodded; he and Tumbilimon walked over alongside Deekamon, and they began to turn to leave.

"Oh, wait a second!" Emily said, suddenly, standing up; the three digimon looked over their shoulders, then turned. She scooped PicoDaemon's egg into her arms, and walked forward to Deekamon. The purple digimon picked it up, and was positively beaming.

"This is what I think it is, yes?"

"PicoDaemon's egg," Iguamon confirmed, nodding his head.

The curious mentor digimon nodded his head slowly, looking intently at the egg. After a pause, he then looked up at the kids and their partners, holding the egg gently in his claws.

"The Sovereigns choose _some_ things wisely, at least. If you can defeat a Reaper..." he said, his voice unexpectedly sincere. "I believe in you. I always have, but now you've given me quite solid proof. Even if the Metal City falls, I have faith that you'll succeed."

"We'll see you there," Tumbilimon said, waving as the trio began to walk away. They walked lengthwise along the mountains, going off the path instead of down it, as the group would soon be doing.

"... I _can't_ be the only one who feels like I'm being pranked every other time that guy talks, can I?" Faris said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Shush," Efudemon said from his place in his partner's arms, watching as Deekamon, Tumbilimon, and BlackAgumon walked away and, before long, out of sight.

"Shall we get going?" Lammon said with a faint smile, as the group on the whole got up from their sitting positions.

"Down into a totally unknown area. Oh_ boy_," Delfinimon drawled, heaving a sigh. "I'm gonna need to be carried for this one, yeom." She craned her neck backwards to look at Faris, expectant.

"Of _course_ you are," Faris replied sarcastically, his eyelids sliding down into an unimpressed expression, even as he heave-ho'd his partner up into his arms.

"Just think of the muscle tone you're building," Emily joked, smiling; Faris rolled his eyes but smiled right back.

"Onwards and upwards," Kamomon said with a flourish of his wing. He paused, looking ahead at the steeply sloped path they were about to descend. "Or. Er. Onwards and downwards, but that doesn't sound as good."

"At least it's easier than climbing up," Toby surmised, stuffing his hands into the pocket on the front of his hoodie.

***

Toby was right; as they descended the slope, they tried to imagine scaling it and were grateful that the direction was down. It was a steeper incline than it had been where they had entered the Crater Valley; those four who were carrying their partners in their arms (Simon, Andrea, and Julian with their Baby II-level partners, and Faris with Delfinimon as usual) had to be careful not to lose their footing, unable to use their arms for balance.

The path winded downwards through the mountains; the lower they went, the air became warm and dry (unsurprisingly enough), as opposed to the heavy heat that had been omnipresent in the crater. The tingling feeling returned as they crossed the invisible barrier, between areas

The sun was past its zenith by the time the group reached the bottom.

"The Relic Desert," Iguamon provided as they looked out in front of them. Past the mouth of the mountain path, they saw an expanse of desert. Bits of buildings, long buried by sand, poked up from the beige landscape, the remains of cities. Despite an aged, almost abandoned, appearance, it by all accounts looked like this was how it was supposed to be- much like the Floating Ruins had been. Ruins, but not ruined.

"Of _course_ it's a desert," Delfinimon remarked, groaning as Faris set her down to walk (drag) herself the rest of the short distance down into the sandy landscape. "If there's one place a dolphin wouldn't want to be, it's a desert, yeom."

"Try having _heavy fur_ before you complain any more, if you will, finny," Cindemon remarked, smirking.

"So... do we just go straight ahead?" Toby said, shielding his eyes. The sun was going down, yes, but it was also going down _right in front of them_, seeing as how they were facing a westerly direction. (Actually, more of a northwest, but still- not the point at hand.)

"Something like that!" Simon said with a smirk, shifting Efudemon to one arm so he could adjust his goggles and hat.

Nobody was going to argue- primarily because nobody had any better ideas. If anyone took any issue, they forced it down as they began to walk straight ahead into the desert.  
>Their feet sunk a bit into the sand if they stood in place too long. It wasn't really a hazard so much as it was an annoyance- the kids weren't eager to get sand in their shoes and the digimon just didn't like the feeling of having their feet sink in.<br>(This was obviously not the case, note, for Sampamon, who very readily adapted to it, leaving smooth slithered grooves in the sand she passed over. She was quite enjoying herself.)

Delfinimon tilted her head back to look up at her partner; the lost-in-thought expression on his face did not go unnoticed by the little cetacean.  
>"Still not gonna talk, yeom?" she asked in low tones, so as not to be heard by anyone else. Faris looked down at her and quite obviously forced a lopsided smile. He temporarily shifted the bulk of the dolphin's weight to one arm so he could bop her on the head.<p>

"Don't worry about it, o ye merry tuna fish."

Delfinimon stuck her tongue out, but when she put her head back down she drew her mouth back into a contemplative frown.

***

The sun was sinking behind the horizon, and our heroes?  
>Were fighting a pair of digimon, designated by the kids' D-GEARs as Lynxmon. Kamomon and Lammon had digivolved up to their Adult forms to take on one apiece, while the others pointedly stayed out of the way.<br>(Though as if it was a response to danger - and in all likelihood it was - the three Baby II levels shot right back up to their Child levels... and promptly found themselves devoid of the energy required to reach Adult. They were simply _drained._)

The Lynxmon had come out of nowhere, roving across the sandy landscape and attacking as the kids passed through a cluster of sunken buildings, only their towers and spires still sticking up above the sand.

"I can't believe I'm fighting a _giant flaming cat_," Kaizokumon mumbled, loading his flintlock pistol. When the Lynxmon leaping backwards into the half-buried remains of a stone tower to ricochet like a feathery bullet, thus enabling him to fire an _energy_ bullet at his target Lynxmon.  
>"<strong>Flintlock Shock<strong>!"  
>The lynxmon merely shook off the shot, the blazing white bullet all but dissipating in the flames on its back.<p>

"Hey, _I'm_ a giant flaming cat at some levels," Rajamon grumped half-jokingly, his tail flicking in annoyance.

The fight had been going on for a short while, now. Neither party was willing to back down, but the partner digimon were reluctant to forcibly end the battle (read: destroy the Lynxmon and revert them to digitama), as they were unsure whether they were agents of Era or not. (Even a hostile digimon not aligned with Era, they reasoned, was just that - not aligned with Era.)

"**Wild Nail Claws**!" both of the Lynxmon yelled in sync, rushing at bird and ewe with their forepaw claws outstretched.

"**Vanish Strike**!" Ariamon cried, fading into smoke seconds before the Lynxmon ran into her, claws-first. A moment later, she reappeared beside it, smashing her head into its side, knocking it into the sand.

At the same time, Kaizokumon smashed his foot into his own target, cutting off its attack by kicking it soundly in the face as it rushed at him, with a cry of "**Kaizoku Kick**!"  
>Not the most elegant solution, but a passable one.<p>

That was enough to get the lynxmon running away with their tails, metaphorically, between their legs. They growled, but in a defeated sort of manner, and turned tail and ran. Once they were sufficiently out of sight, Kaizokumon and Ariamon returned to their base forms.

This was also enough to convince the kids that sleeping in the open was not just _unfavorable_, but an _outright stupid move_. It wasn't even dark, yet; who'd know what could happen once the light of the sun was below the horizon.

"Do you guys think it's safe to... maybe take up shelter in one of these?" Toby mused, standing on tiptoe to look in the open window of one of the sunken buildings- the last bits of a stone tower. It was too dark to really see inside, but the room looked large enough to accomodate the group well enough.

"I'd rather take my chances inside rather than out," Andrea said plain as day, putting her hands on her hips. "Inside, we at least have a way of telling which way anyone out for our blood is coming from."

Julian raised an eyebrow. "Optimistic," he said, voice completely even.

"You know it," the elder of the two girls of the team replied, smirking.

"Makes sense," Simon said with a nod, putting his hands behind his head. "It'd be safer. And if nothing else maybe at least a bit warmer, yeah? ... that, and I kind of miss sleeping on an actual floor." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head a bit sheepishly.

"_Word_," Faris said immediately, putting his hands in his pockets.

Then it was settled. It was soon going to be too dark to viably continue on; they decided to cut it here and go with a sure thing.

It was a bit of a haphazard entry; the window was arched and large enough for the humans and digimon alike to pass through without issue, but it was a bit of a jump to get up and through it. Julian helped pull Toby through after he, himself, had gotten inside.  
>Inside, it was indeed dark, but their eyes adjusted without too terribly much trouble, enabling them to at least maneuver around eachother without smashing skulls or anything of the like.<p>

It was a circular room; though the walls were stone, the floor was wooden, though solid. There was just enough room for them all to pack in more or less comfortably, backs to the wall. On the far side of the little room (judging the 'side' with the window as the near side), there seemed to be a small trapdoor- only big enough for a human to pass through.  
>They weren't trusting enough not to check it, but it held solid- as though it hadn't been used in years, if <em>ever.<em> The hinges indicated that it swung upwards; no fear, thus, of it dropping out underneath one of them.

It was as good as they figured they were likely to get, and thus they weren't about to start complaining.

It felt good to be under a roof, on a solid floor, instead of under a tree or huddled in a cave on uneven soil and rocks.  
>Even to the digimon- the little circular room rang true to memories of Deekamon's hut. They would, through it all, always call that be-hoodie'd weirdo's little stone hut 'home'.<p>

For the first time in a long time, they sat- not entirely exhausted, but merely resting. Why, they might almost be _relaxing_- perish the thought.

They sat; they talked. They discussed what to do when they ran into Javermon and Epidemon next, for a short period of time, but this produced absolutely no viable _plans_, and before terribly long it devolved into... why, something that almost seemed like a group of friends.

Faris and Delfinimon had cracks for every other thing anyone else said, which more than once got them a gentle wallop upside the head from whoever was closest; even Julian cracked a smile or two, however. (He'd deny it if asked.) They exchanged anecdotes and general quippery; they playfully antagonized one another.  
>Toby and Luke sat mostly quiet, with Lammon lying her front half on Toby's lap and Sampamon around Luke's shoulders. However, they spoke in low tones to one another- nothing terribly secretive, but it was mostly their mutually soft-spoken commentary on the conversations going on around them.<p>

It was... nice. Even though the desert around them was growing dark and - as it was, in fact, _a desert_ - cold, the little room they had chosen as shelter had taken on its own kind of a homey quality.

***

It was later into the night proper when Delfinimon stirred, nudged awake by Lammon's nose in her side and the tap of a hoof on her head. The dolphin cautiously cracked one eye open; the sheep said nothing, and Delfinimon got the distinct impression that she should follow suit and keep quiet.

Wordlessly, Delfinimon tilted her head as though to ask _what's up?_

In return, Lammon pointedly pointed her snout in the direction of the window; there, Faris stood, looking out with his arms folded on the windowsill. Delfinimon furrowed her brow, but nodded to Lammon and quietly began to drag herself over towards her partner. Lammon settled her head down again; this was, by all accounts, probably a big heaping pile of _not her business._

"You can't pull the 'nothing's up' card, yeom," Delfinimon said after a moment of looking up at Faris; he didn't notice her until she spoke up.

He blinked a couple times, before he chuckled weakly, picking the dolphin up into his arms. "You've caught me. O woe, o misery."

Delfinimon smirked and stuck her tongue out, bopping her nose into her partner's. "Come on. You've got something on the noggin, and I'm your partner. Listening to you is why I'm here." Pause. "Okay, actually, why I'm here is to beat up evil digimon and then get bigger and beat up stronger evil digimon, but the listening to you thing? _Totally_ a close second, yeom."

"You don't give up, do you? Thought that was Em and Kamomon's shtick," Faris mused, before Delfinimon made a (quiet, so as not to wake the others) squeak of indignity.

"You're avoiding the question!"

Faris rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go outside so we don't wake the others up with our _incessant chatter._"  
>Of course, the boy had to help the dolphin get up and over the windowsill, and she made a little "oomph" noise as she fell onto the sand. Faris climbed up and hopped down after her.<p>

They circled around the structure just a bit so they wouldn't be completely obnoxious and talking right outside the window- best at least to put a layer of stone between them.

"So start talkin', buddy boy," Delfinimon said, draping herself across Faris' lap as he sat down on a stone block that stuck a few inches out of the ground. (If he could avoid sitting down in sand, he was going to take that opportunity, thank you very much.)

Faris huffed indignantly, but smiled. "I was just thinking. Yeah, I know- must have hurt. It _totally_ did. But... yeah. Thinking. I mean, this whole... thing. It can't go on that much longer, right? At least, it can't last forever."

"Thing?" Delfinimon asked, her brow raising.

"This whole adventure thingamabob," Faris said, gesturing with his hand. "Once Era's defeated, what happens then?"

Delfinimon paused, then frowned, her face an expression of contemplation. "Yeah, I guess so, yeom," she said, speaking slow and picking her works carefully.

"And thennn... we go back to the real world. Things go back to normal. And, let's be honest, it kind of sucks," Faris said, smiling. "People don't really like me that much back home. Even if these guys think I'm kind of a doof, they still don't hate me."

"Because you are awesome, yeom," Delfinimon said, as though nothing could be simpler.

"And more than that," Faris continued, though he smiled at the dolphin's assessment of him. "I- sounds dumb but I kinda missed having my brother around, you know? I mean, true, I never exactly thought that the longest we'd be around each other in seven years is running around with a dolphin and a dinosaur and a whole ragtag band of misfits, but hey, I'll take what I can get."

Delfinimon nodded slowly, thinking but saying nothing.

"All I mean is that I'm gonna miss the whole 'having friends' thing, and I'm definitely going to miss having my brother as, well, my brother, again."  
>There was an unspoken implication to the last part what he said, a mess of jealous and sadness. It was subtle, but he had emphasized the <em>my<em> in 'my brother', just so slightly.

Stupid in-denial Faris.  
>Oh well. Progress was progress.<p>

"This isn't like you," Delfinimon remarked - instead of what she could comment on, what she wanted to comment on. She looked up at him, sticking her tongue out for the billionth time. "Don't worry so much, yeom."

"Easier said than done," Faris replied, resting his chin on one hand.

"Then make fun of the crap that makes you worry," Delfinimon replied matter-of-factly. "Worry doesn't stand up well to a good ol' mocking. Trust me on that, yeom."

Faris smirked, rolling his eyes. "Then you must be the most worry-free creature in all of existence."

"Hey, I'm just speaking from experience. Yeom," the dolphin replied, hopping off of her partner's lap and into the sand. "Let's get back inside. It's cold out here."

"Weenie," Faris remarked airily, but just the statement that it was getting chilled was enough to make him aware of, say, his lack of sleeves. "... yeah, let's."  
>Moreover, they could see more than one dark shape roaming - shapes that didn't look particularly friendly, by the way they could see the faint silhouettes of two digimon quite viciously attempting to rip eachother apart quite close-by.<p>

What they did not see - could not reasonably be expected to see - the red eyes, shining like gems, settled into a gold face that was watching them from within one of the towers poking above the sand.  
>Lord Era had given him a mission.<br>He knew just what to do.

Faris picked Delfinimon up and helped her through the window again, before climbing through himself. As quietly as they could they settled back into more or less the places they had been before Faris had his _emo moment_ (as Delfinimon would surely refer to it).

The rest of the night was mercifully uneventful, though they had no way to know their awakening could charitably be called _rude_.

***

The morning came, and the group was awakened more or less simultaneously; it was hard not to be, as the room was shaking violently- not just the room, actually, but the entire structure the room was attached to.

"I have had _enough_ in the way of _earthquakes_!" Egakumon yelped, trying to get to his feet and then promptly falling sideways into Simon with a _whumph_.

It wasn't, however, another earthquake- a quick look out the window could confirm that. For the little time they had left that they _could_ look out the window, at any rate; the sand outside was creeping higher towards it, threatening to spill in.  
>Or rather, the stone tower was sinking.<p>

"The trapdoor!" Julian barked quickly, not particularly fancying a death by burial as the sand began to trickle in. "We'll find a way out once we get away." (He hoped.)

"On it," Egakumon said, being nearest to the trapdoor on the floor. Rearing his hand back as it began to glow, he smashed it down into the wood. "**Pummel Claw**!"

Though the wood began to splinter below his claws, it wasn't enough to break it in one fell swoop; luckily, Kamomon and Iguamon rushed forward to help.

"**Seagull Strike**!"

"**Dino Claw**!"

Between the weakning of the wood provided by the rabbit, and then the two-fisted smack from Kamomon and the hard jab from Iguamon, the solid wood cracked and the trapdoor opened.  
>A low-tech solution, but preferable to the alternative.<p>

Leading down was a somewhat narrow flight of stairs, curling down into the dark. Toby groaned, though Lammon nudged her head against his hand in a comforting gesture. A moment later, it didn't mean much more, because with a jerky rumble, the entire structure dropped a few feet- and sand covered up the window, the only light in the room being tiny slivers of sun peeking in through tiny gaps in the roof.  
>So, hey, at least it was dark all around.<p>

They didn't waste much time; with D-GEAR units pulled out to use as light sources, the kids and their digimon moved down _very quickly_ as sand began to rush in the window.  
>Julian and Iguamon were the last to hurtle down the stairs - possibly making sure that everybody else got down before them - but even so, they had moved quickly enough that there wasn't exactly a huge time difference between the first (Toby, in a bit of dark-induced panic) and himself.<p>

The stairs, closed in by tight walls on both sides, were only wide enough to accomodate one kid or one digimon at a time, leading them to spiral downwards in single file. They moved as quickly as they safely could, though shortly after they headed down the stairs the rumbling stopped and the building settled down.

"I'm going to bet that this wasn't just random occurrance, knowing our luck," Emily mumbled, looking around in the dark and tilting her D-GEAR so she could get a better look at the walls.

"If I took you up on that bet, I'd lose," Faris said in reply.

They walked further downwards, spiralling around a central column. It took a short while, but eventually they reached the mouth of the staircase.

What they saw was definitely not what they expected.

The bottom of the tower opened up into open air, not connecting to another part of a building; no, it was open air- and it was a massive cavern. It was tinted blue-green by tremendous crystals giving off light, nestled in the walls and hanging from the ceiling (the kids thus felt justified in putting their D-GEARs away, as their light was no longer required). Golden sand trickled down from the ceiling in select places, settling into small piles. The ruins of buildings- towers that still reached up through the high ceiling of the cavern, as well as shorter structures whose tops had no chance of scraping the top - lay everywhere.

Perhaps most interesting was that all of the solid ground was lifted up on mesa-like structures, while about ten feet below them was an expanse of water, deep and cool and dark. They were on raised islands in a vast underground lake.  
>The dark shapes of digimon, not sufficiently lit up by the faint crystal glow, moved about on land and in water, paying no heed to the tower that had just dropped through the ceiling.<p>

"One day, I will stop being surprised by the way the Digital World works," Luke said after a moment of stunned silence. "This, however, is not that day."

"I don't think any of us really expected _this_," Sampamon said, looking around and blinking a few times.

Simon nodded, looking around and walking closer up to the edge of the little island they were on. He hemmed and hawed, looking over to try and judge the distance between them and the nearest other island. (Not too far to jump, though Simon couldn't estimate the distance off the top of his head.)  
>He looked down, then, into the water, and furrowed his brow, taking a step back. Any movement would have to wait.<p>

"What's up?" Emily asked.

"Uh, I think we're gonna need Faris for this one," the goggle-head remarked.

"Wait, what?" was all Faris could get out, before the little spit of land they were standing on shook just barely. They could hear the sloshing of water below them, and a faint, garbled roar.

"Time to bite something's _face_, yeom," Delfinimon said cheerfully, while Faris looked a bit more uncomfortable.

"I. Ah."

"You know, I mean, not to pull the 'you're our only hope' card, but, uh," Egakumon said, chuckling. "Delfinimon's the only one of us that's actually _meant_ to be in water."

They looked down. It wasn't quite in the channel between their vantage point and the nearest fellow "island", but it was close enough. A great white head breeched the water, roaring, before the body attached to said white head smashed into the pillar of rock. It was the size of a freaking semi truck, thrashing down in the water. It looked like the loch ness monster on steroids- its body was white with blue accents, with orange tipping the frill-like fins that decorated its back and the sides of its face.  
>Cue D-GEAR!<p>

_Plesiomon. Mega-level plesiosaur digimon. A fearsome sea monster, it fights by inducing that fear in its enemies. In addition to water-based attacks, its Sorrow Blue makes even hardened warriors lose the will to fight._

Delfinimon looked at Faris expectantly; he nodded slowly.

"Delfinimon, kickstart digivolve to... Shayumon!"

"I'm going to suggest you just try getting it away from us," Iguamon said, looking up at the dolphin-turned-shark's face.

The newly-formed Adult-level shark stretched out her limbs, smirking. "I'll just lure it away then climb back up, yeom. Or, more realistically, panic and climb up somewhere else if it tries to eat me. No worries."  
>Shayumon shot a lopsided grin at Faris, before she hauled herself over to the edge. Using her arms, she heaved herself off, throwing her arms back and hitting the water with startling grace, sinking into it with a splash.<p>

Shayumon propelled herself downwards into the water a ways. It was dark and cold- and she couldn't be happier about it. (Honestly, she was just happy to have the chance to run water over her gills instead of having them gasping uselessly on land.) She forced down the urge to _cavort_ in the water, knowing she had a job to do.

She looked up; the green light seeped through into the water and made Plesiomon's silhouette plain to see. _Target acquired, yeom,_ she thought to herself (yes, she even _thought_ the yeom'). He was big, he looked grumpy, and he was fairly fixated on smashing the rock underneath the kids- and doing a not-half-bad job of it.

Now, it was just a matter of getting its attention.

... well, there was always the tried and true method.

"Hey, fishbait!" she called; the words were a bit garbled (as the water was quite different from how it had been in the Great Ocean - they hadn't been reformatted in the same way), but the message got across well enough for its purpose.

When Plesiomon turned his head to glare, Shayumon was thumbing her nose at him, sticking her tongue out and crossing her eyes before she all but backflipped through the water, away from him.  
>Truly, a show of a dignified distraction technique.<p>

But it worked, as the plesiosaur growled and began to follow her. Shayumon herself was massively dwarfed in size, compared with her pursuer; this gave her, if nothing else, the advantage of manueverability. Underneath the surface there were arcs of rock and twisted structures, remnants of ruined buildings.  
>Other digimon fled out of the way, flurries of water and bubbles left behind.<p>

"**Shaking Pulse**!" the Plesiomon said, opening his mouth and releasing... just that. A pulse, pure energy, compressing and firing the water towards Shayumon.  
>Her pupils narrowed as she darted behind a thin pillar of stone- the pillar crumbled under the force of the attack, but she was left unharmed.<p>

"That all you got, 'ya great big bad-tempered _walrus_," Shayumon mocked, looking over her shoulder; her eyes narrowed as the Plesiomon fired off another attack.

"**Shaking Pulse**!"  
>This time, she couldn't dodge out of the way fast enough to completely evade it- it knocked her into a wall of rock.<p>

From their vantage point, the kids could only see a pair of dark shapes, one vastly larger than the other, and an occasional wave of water surging up for a second- and then the smaller dark shape smashed into a wall, shaking bits of rock off of one of the islands a short distance away.

Faris was... torn. His first instinct was to jump in and see if there was anything he could do, but another part of his mind was rearing up- _deep water, and you can't breathe in this._ That really had been the deciding factor in the Great Ocean- there hadn't been any risk of drowning.  
>Here? Ohhh yeah.<br>However, all other thoughts were chucked out of his head when they could see the larger dark shape bodily slam into the smaller- Plesiomon smashing into Shayumon. A flash of light that lit up the water, and the small shape was even smaller and trying desperately to swim away.

"Hold these for me," Faris said, kicking his shoes and socks off before he tugged his headband off of his head (and mussed his hair up a bit so as to get it out of 'headband hair' state). He handed the pieces of clothing to Julian, who blinked.

"_Tell me_ you're not," Julian said, voice stern and clearly cautioning his younger brother.

"Of course I am. I'm full of stupid ideas, after all," Faris said, flashing a grin - it wavered for a minute, when he looked down into the dark water. "This is just the latest in a series."  
>Before anyone could stop him though - and indeed, a couple of the kids were moving to stop him - he breathed in, held that breath, and hurled himself into a dive into the water below.<p>

Though his dive helped ease the transition into water, he still hit the water hard- and it was _cold as sin_, seeping into his clothes and chilling him to the bone... and also nearly forcing the breath out of him.  
>He aimed for the surface, painfully aware that he couldn't risk this; he resurfaced, shaking the water out of his eyes. He looked up and gave a thumbs-up to those watching, the rush of blood in his ears not allowing him to hear what, if anything, they were saying.<p>

"If I'm not back in five minutes, wait longer!" Faris quipped with the age-old line, before he dove back under the water, swallowing down any fear he had left and focusing on the motion.  
>Before long, he found himself pushed backwards- not by anything hostile, but by Delfinimon <em>whumph<em>ing straight into his chest. He kicked his legs to resurface, holding the dolphin to his chest.

"Hel-loo," he remarked; she looked tired-out, but smiled in return.

"Dummy, yeom."

"Well, come on- I couldn't just sit by and watch you get the tuna-fishing treatment," Faris said, though he cautiously looked across Delfinimon's shoulder. "If you're going to get trashed, I want to at least be a part of it."  
>As if on cue, Plesiomon reared his head above the water, roaring loudly enough to ripple the water around him.<p>

"Run. ... or swim, whatever," Faris said immediately; Delfinimon didn't need to be told twice, and both dolphin and boy began swimming away _as fast as they could_ as a loud roar of:

"**Hydro Impact Crusher**!"

Escaped Plesiomon's mouth, immediately followed by an incredible rush of water. Faris yelped, taking a deep breath and immediately diving under the water at the first sign of the attack.  
>This did prevent him from taking the full brunt of it, but the pure power of the water canon did send him sinking, his limbs falling numb from the force of impact as he was pushed deeper.<p>

Well. Crap. _Exactly_ what he had been worrying about? Happening.

Up on the island, Simon and Andrea had to _bodily restrain_ Julian to keep him from diving in after his brother.

He was sinking, face-down, into the depths of the water, desperately holding his breath until he could feel his body again. It was too dark to tell where the bottom was, but he was having trouble craning his neck upwards to see the faint blue-green light still shining across the water- and that was growing fainter.  
>Okay, he might have been sinking a bit faster than he thought he had, no doubt mostly in thanks to the incredible force of the jet of water that hit him.<p>

The water pressure grew stronger, pushing down on his chest, until he could not longer hold his breath- a bubble escaped him as the air escaped him.  
>And then he was being tugged upwards. Delfinimon clamped her mouth onto her partner's shirt, pulling as powerfully as she could. In the dark water, the pair was beginning to glow.<p>

**_True warrior of the Virtue of Humor; this is your genesis._**

When Faris lifted his head, cracking his eyes open, they were blazing sea-green. Delfinimon's were matching, and the rush of water around them amplified into a mad rush of water, like white rapids. The white glow that consumed their bodies expanded into a swirling sphere of water, lighting up the dark water around them, shadowy forms swimming across its surface.

"Delfinimon, genesis digivolve to..."

When their forms combined, it took on a vastly different from from the three Meas before it. Where Kisekimon, ImperialBaghamon, and WarTriassimon took on humanoid forms, the body that Faris and Delfinimon created?  
>Definitely not.<p>

Delfinimon's body grew to nearly the size of a schoolbus as Faris lent her his energy. Her snout shortened, as it had done for her Adult and Perfect digivolutions, to a shark-like one instead of her dolphin bottlenose. She once more grew proper arms and legs - these ones non-mechanical - as her tail shifted to a shark's wicked blade.  
>Two additional sharp dorsal fins grew out of her back as the extant one grew large and pointed, similar sharp blades forming on her elbows, shoulders, and even her heels. Ear-like fins jutted out of the sides of her head as the fin on her head, like all the others, and frills of three fins per side adorned her cheeks.<p>

Around her forearms, the armor arm-guards that had become characteristic of her higher evolutions snapped on, even in the water crackling with electricity. Dark teal streaks adorned her limbs, tail, and back, and two across her snout as she grinned, baring rows of sharp teeth; each of the pointed fins on her back, including her crescent-shaped tailfin, was tipped in the same colour. Her eyes were all but pure yellow - thin red pupils set in yellow irises, surrounded by pale yellow sclera.

Black bands lashed themselves around her legs, her feet, her neck, her arms underneath her arm-guards; a single black ring around the base of her tail-fin and around each upper arm.

Her gills flared as she swirled herself arround effortlessly, dispersing the shield of light in a flurry of bubbles that faded away as they floated away.

"**Galeomon!**!"

"Holy crap," Faris blurted from within Galeomon's consciousness. "You've put on some weight, haven't you?"

_All the better for wallopping a wannabe Loch Ness Monster,_ the newly-giant-shark digimon replied, flexing her claws.

With a mighty thrash of her tail, Galeomon almost effortlessly propelled herself towards Plesiomon, who was returning to his attempts to smash away parts of the mini-islands the kids were waiting on.  
>In return, Galeomon - now nearly matching the sea monster for size - decided to surge upwards, smashing into his underside and sending him backwards into the rock wall opposite the kids.<p>

"You're trying to swim into a rock, I don't think that's gonna work, yeom," Galeomon growled as she surfaced, glaring at Plesiomon.

"Oh my god, you still say the 'yeom'!" Faris' voice said with a barking laugh, disbelieving.

_Always._

Plesiomon did not reply, rearing his head back. "**Shaking Pulse**!" he roared; instead of water, this time it actually visibly sent out waves of energy towards the tremendous shark. She responded by growling and sinking below the water.

Not two seconds later she shot back up, an orb of swirling water surrounding her as she shot out of the water. "**Crushing Wave**!" she cried before smashing into Plesiomon from above, dragging him down into the water with her.

Propelled by Galeomon's force, they sunk deeper into the water; Plesiomon thrashed and snarled and spat to try and damage the shark, lashing out with his tail and snapping his jaws. Galeomon held fast, sinking her claws into his back and thrashing her own tail to keep them sinking. It got deeper and deeper, the faint glow filtering from above only a mere gleam, sparse rays of light cutting through the dark.

They slowed as they went deeper, Plesiomon ripping from Galeomon's grip only just before they smashed into the rocks at the bottom (though with some wounds on his back bleeding into the water). Garbled through the water, Plesiomon snarled as he tried to close in on Galeomon; she dodged, circling around the plesiosaur. Before long, they were almost engaged in an underwater dance, both trying to find a weak spot.

Finding none, Galeomon settled for the next best thing. "**Shark Attack**!" she called, and for a second her body was consumed with white energy. She then dove down out of the way, not daring to stay in one place for too long. However, while she moved, the light didn't- it began taking the form of tiny sharks, glowing white except for red eyes.  
>The moment they were formed, the small sharp-toothed fish darted forward, snapping their jaws at Plesiomon's body, especially at the gashes on his back; the simplest of thrashes dispersed them into motes of light, only for more to take their place.<p>

Plesiomon roared, a flurry of bubbles escaping his mouth as he called his attack. "**Shaking Pulse**!"

The waves of energy smashed into Galeomon, sending her back and smashing into a pillar of rock, her bulk enough to shake it substantially. She realized belatedly that it was in fact the same one that Plesiomon had been smashing into, trying to bring down the other members of the group.

"Ah, crap," Faris remarked within Galeomon as she (they) looked upwards.

_They'll be fine, yeom. We have bigger problems at the moment._  
>Growling, the giant shark kicked off of the wall as gently as she could, her many fins gaining a blinding-white edging. "<strong>Blade Tornado<strong>!" she snarled, suddenly whipping her body around fiercely. From each of her fins was fired a crescent-shaped blade of energy, each of which crashing into Plesiomon and sending him reeling.

Galeomon took the chance she had and threw herself forward, grabbing onto Plesiomon and holding fast. Instead of striking, however, she merely held on as he thrashed and attempted to dispel her.

"Why are you trying to get rid of our friends," Galeomon demanded, even as Plesiomon smashed his body (and the shark holding onto it) into another wall of rock (this one thankfully not the one that she had been smashed into moments prior). "Are you with Era?"

"Never!" Plesiomon _snapped_, a rumbling roar that Galeomon could feel coursing through the plesiosaur's body, seeming mortally insulted by the insinuation. With one mighty jerk, he whipped around enough to smash his tail into the shark's body. Though it was hard to see underwater, it was surrounded by an aura of churning water, separate from the liquid around it. "**Water Tail Blaster**!"

The force of the attack forced Galeomon off of him; he began to surge upwards, back towards the surface of the water.  
>"So be it, then, yeom," the shark said mostly to herself, sending herself rocketing after her target.<p>

When Plesiomon reached the surface and began once more to smash his body against the rock, blasting out waves of energy from his mouth, Galeomon did not confront him directly or attack from underneath.

No, when she surfaced, she leapt out of the water and wasted absolutely no time. She reared her hands back, and the plates of armor on her arms began to spark and crackle with electricity.  
>"<strong>Electro Break<strong>!" she roared while still in mid-air, and the electricity from her arm plates suddenly leapt off of her and took the form of an orb of ball lightning, flying at - and smashing into - Plesiomon. Galeomon herself used her momentum to smash into the rock face that Paleomon was trying to destroy, and though it shook something awful, it remained intact. She sunk her claws into the solid rock and fixed herself there, pointedly staying out of the water.

In the most unsurprising move ever, this ended poorly for Plesiomon. He reared his head back and roared as the electricity pulsed through him, crackling and sparking and-  
>A flash of light lit up the entire cavern, blinding and bright, and then all that remained was an egg sinking slowly into the water.<p>

With a heave-ho, Galeomon dropped, backwards and head-first, off of the rock wall (she figured, correctly, there was nowhere close to enough room for a bus-sized shark alongside the bystanders). She sunk almost silently into the water, surprising considering her size.  
>She re-surfaced after a moment, clawing her way up the small 'island' opposite the one the kids stood on. She took up most of it, and so perched a bit awkwardly, but she grinned as she looked at the others.<p>

"Put on a bit of weight, huh?" Egakumon said, grinning.

"We can't all be pretty-boys like you guys when we digivolve, yeom," she replied, before she bowed her head and was engulfed in white light. A couple moments later, and where the giant shark-monster was sitting a moment before, sat Faris. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground, hands on his knees and a grin on his face, while little Finmon sat in his lap.  
>"Guess it can't last forever," the little dolphin-head mused, looking up at her partner; he lightly bonked her on the top of his head with one closed fist before standing up. The other six humans and their respective digimon - one by one, some a bit more apprehensive than others - jumped from one spit of rock to the next to re-join with Faris.<p>

***

It was only around this time that the two remaining Reapers reached their destination.  
>Javermon and Epidemon knelt as soon as they entered the dark room, feeling Era's eyes on them; they could not see his eyes, as the light from the monitors around him was reflecting and glaring off of the man's glasses. The pulsing mass of data on the altar beside him was still throbbing like a heart, giving off a glow of its own.<p>

The dog still held the glowing orb in his hand; even as it felt as it was searing his flesh, he did not flinch.  
>"I see you're missing one," Era intoned, entirely impassive, as though he couldn't care less (he couldn't). "A defeat?"<p>

"Yes, Lord Era," Javermon said, holding the core in his hand up for Era. A flick of the man's wrist brought it floating out of the canid's hand. The glow lingered, pulsed softly, before it faded out.

"Hmm. Oh, well," Era said, looking the orb over and smiling. "Only two left, after all. You can do it without him, can't you?"

Epidemon looked over at Javermon, just his eyes flicking to the side; Javermon didn't notice, nodding in response to Era. "Of course, Lord."

With one hand, Era 'held' the orb (it really floated a few inches above it; in proximity with the thing near Era, it began to pulse as well); with the other, he began tapping at one of the holographic keyboards.  
>"You can go," he said, pointedly not looking at the two remaining Reapers.<p>

They wasted no time in vacating.

Era began to smile, tapping one last key with his free hand, before he turned to the thing at his side. He twisted his wrist and Zhuqiaomon's core floated towards the data; the data blob reached out a formless extension of itself to pull the core within itself.  
>Era grinned as it began to take shape.<p>

Meanwhile, outside his throneroom:

"I told you he wouldn't care, Cujo," Epidemon sneered as soon as the door closed behind them, glaring at the dog. "_You're_ just his special errand-dog. Pickles was just an errand dog to the errand dogs, same as me. The second we collect the last of the cores, and he takes that away from you-"

"Shut up," Javermon snapped, his long legs carrying him forward as he walked back towards his own chambers. He intentionally tossed his small cape so that it hit Epidemon on the beak.  
>They'd leave again the next morning.<p> 


	39. Chapter 39: Follow in Your Flightsteps

_A/N: Sorry about lateness... my life's gonna gone wahoonie-shaped lately. Bluh. But! It's out! Also, check my deviantArt (Kazzooki) to check out a pre-launch contest I'm holding for the project I'm doing after re:GENESIS, re:CONNECT- there's some cool stuff at stake._

_Oh and also REVIEW IF YOU LOVE ME don't make me beg_

* * *

><p>It had been a good day's worth of wandering since the fight with Plesiomon, and the group had managed to make their way further into the cave in (ultimately vain) hopes of making any progress in getting out. They had, however, made impressive progress on <em>aimlessly moving in a given direction<em>. At present, they were standing at a fork of sorts, two vast paths leading in two opposing directions. Their surroundings had changed, yes, but to the untrained eye (read: all of their eyes), it looked almost the same; it was a bunch of glowing rocks, a bunch of non-glowing rocks, and a bunch of water.

And a bunch of digimon making attempts on their lives, which _was_ more-of-the-same, but in another way.

They watched as a large digimon, made of stone - the D-GEARs had said it was called a Golemon - scurried off down a sloping path towards the water, nursing whatever wounds a creature made entirely of rock could be said to have.

"What I wish we could get a better understanding of," Julian remarked from on Velocimon's back, placing one hand on the dinosaur's skull helmet, "is what's going on here." To the side, Serpemon bowed her head as Luke placed a hand on the side of the tremendous snake's neck.

The issue on his mind, and on the minds of much of the group: all of the digimon that had been of a mind to speak to them had said they'd not been with Era, if prompted. Most, mind, just responded to any questions with roars and snarls and attacks, leaving little to the way of actual conversation to be had. Still, those that had spoke maintained the same pattern. In fact, they had seemed downright offended at the insinuation.  
>It was a curiosity, if nothing else.<p>

"What's that?"  
>Emily's voice cut through the haze of thought; while the others were looking at the ground or eachother, some merely zoned out, she was looking ahead. The group's eyes followed the direction she was pointing.<br>Down one of the paths was... well, much of the same that they had been wandering through. The other path, however, continued for a while before a light - quite a bit brighter than the curious minerals that illuminated the caverns - was visible at the end, shining out like a beacon of sorts. The light more than twinkled- it might even have been said to pulsate.

"Option one: a way out," Simon surmised, putting his hands in his pockets, "or, at least something similar."

"Option two: a shiny dead end," Andrea said, one hand on her hip as she flipped a bit of her hair over her shoulder with the other hand, "or option three: a trap."

"More of a lead than we have for anything else," Egakumon added, his expression thoughtful. (Or, as close to thoughtful as the little hot-blooded rabbit's expression ever got.)

"Upwards and onwards, then," Rajamon said, shrugging his shoulders and looking up- before being immediately plowed past by Velocimon. Julian, on his partner's back still, had to fist his hands into the dinosaur's mane of hair to avoid being flung off by the sudden movement. For their parts, Simon and Egakumon seemed downright insulted that they had had their moment of headstrong run-forward heroism stolen from underneath them, and immediately bounded afterwards. Rajamon snorted and followed the rabbit - though at a more leisurely, unhurried pace -, with Andrea close behind.

"How many of the things we get into, I wonder," Luke mused quietly, casting a sidelong glance at the nearby Toby, as those left 'behind' began to move, "are caused primarily by members of the group charging headlong into things." As he spoke, Serpemon returned to her Sampamon form, and Luke picked her up and helped to deposit her onto her favored position around his shoulders.

"Quite a few," Toby conceded, smiling faintly. "But I think it works out, more or less."

"And if it doesn't, we make it work out," Emily provided; Kamomon smiled and nodded up at his partner.

To this, Faris added, "And failing _that_, that's why we bring up the back- to pick up the pieces!" Finmon, held under one arm, squeaked her agreement.  
>A short ways ahead, Velocimon had stopped and turned, waiting for the rest to catch up to him (and for Julian to climb off long enough for the dinosaur to return to his child form). They wasted no time in closing the distance; they could hear a rumbling behind them, and if it was another digimon out for their skins, they'd rather avoid it.<p>

* * *

><p>The brightness of the light ahead of them proved to fool them into mistaking the distance; it was further than it looked. And yet, on they went, occasionally having to leap from one "island" to the next, helping one other if they landed off-balance, to keep them from tumbling back-first into the dark water below. (Faris, to wit, was still soggy, even hours later, as the air was stagnant and cool - not terribly conducive to drying him off. The others had decided they wanted to avoid his drippy fate.)<p>

They drew closer, edging closer to the light, and yet none of them were terrifically surprised when they heard a deep and low rumbling.

"_Of freaking course,_," Andrea drawled, digging her heels into the rocks below her feet and bracing herself.

Silhouetted against the shining light behind it, a huge shape dropped from the ceiling- if they were to look up, the broken remains of a tower was wedged in the ceiling, hanging open at the bottom, thus granting the new digimon a perch from which to drop. It was tremendous in size, kicking up a flurry of dust and debris when it landed.

The digimon was tremendous, and quadrupedial in form. It looked like it had been put together from a mishmash of creatures; its forelegs were like great talons and its head like an eagle's (though with a metal mask covering the face), but its body was furry and striped like a tiger's. Behind it, a tail thrashed, tipped in the grinning face of a snake. Its wings, like a bat's, folded onto its back, as its harsh yellow eyes looked down at the humans and digimon, so small compared to itself.

The partner digimon bristled and prepared themselves for a fight... but perhaps tellingly, their D-GEARs did not go off; the strange little devices did not detect hostile intent. This did nothing to decrease how imposing and threatening the tremendous chimeric digimon looked, but it did not move to attack.  
>"You find yourselves lost, do you not, small ones?" it rumbled, suddenly.<p>

Unsure how to respond, the humans looked at one another. Faris looked quite pointedly at Simon, raising his eyebrows, expecting the be-hatted boy to be the first to speak - as he so often was.

Simon looked as though he was going to, but he was beaten to the punch by the avian member of the team.

"You could, ah, say that, yes," Kamomon said, stroking the chin of his beak and looking to the ground below his feet.

"Are you a friend?" Egakumon said after a moment, gripping his brush tightly (just in case).

"I am Gryphonmon, servant to the guardian of the Relic Desert," the large digimon replied; it did not go over their heads, not even Egakumon's, that that wasn't much of an answer to the question presented. "If you are lost, I will take you to him for guidance."

"Chances of this being a trap are rapidly approaching 'one'," Andrea remarked under her breath to nobody in particular, as Rajamon curled defensively in front of her legs. Julian nodded imperceptibly in agreement, but did not take his eyes off of the tremendous beast.  
>And yet... none of them were particularly willing to go against the new digimon at the moment. He had the advantage of size - he could probably smack them, with one big claw, into the water before any of those who could could reach Mega form- or even for any of the digimon to reach Perfect. Again: trying to avoid a soggy fate.<p>

"We'll, be fine, I think," Simon said, measuring his words; he might have been a bit on the headstrong side, but not even _he_ was going to run into this offer head-first.

Egakumon - and the rest of the digimon in the group at large - immediately leapt forward, and Simon - and the rest of the humans in the group at large - leapt backwards, as one of Gryphonmon's fore-feet raised and smashed down, much closer to them than it had been before. "You misunderstand. It was not meant as a request," the beast rumbled fiercely, his tremendous talons digging effortlessly into the solid rock. The digimon bristled once more, raring to fight, even if they were outmatched, but before they could, Gryphonmon's composure was gained once more. He lifted his foot and once more stood straight, looking impassively at the ragtag group.

He received no further complaints, and so the chimeric digimon reared his head back and let loose a terrific keening noise. The digimon and their partners had to cover their ears as the sound rang off the walls of the cavern and reverberated at a downright ear-splitting volume.  
>Rajamon used the cover of the sound to quickly mouth words to the others, digimon and human alike: <em>be prepared to fight<em>.

They did not need to be told twice- or even the once, as even the trusting Toby and Lammon felt the lump of apprehension and dread sinking into the pits of their stomachs.

* * *

><p>There was one thing to be said; walking behind Gryphonmon, they did not feel like they were going to be attacked by any outside parties. Faris and Finmon entertained themselves by pulling faces at the eyeless snake-head at the end of Gryphonmon's tail, even when Emily suggested that they maybe shouldn't, on the off-chance that the gryphon could tell. (Stranger things had happened, she was sure, regarding digimon.)<p>

As they walked, the entire group talked - in hushed tones, betwixt themselves (and admittedly some more than others, but all seven humans and digimon took part) - about what they could or would do if this did end up being a trap. They were not optimistic enough to think that simply because the tremendous beast did not react to them meant he could not hear them.  
>The closer they drew to the light, the more evident its source; it was an absolutely monstrously-sized hunk of the glowing crystal, large enough to dwarf even the bus-sized Gryphonmon by comparison. The closer they drew, the less intense the light seemed- which made no logical sense, were it simply less intense at close range (Julian, to his credit, did not comment). It did not seem that it was so; rather, the light was actively dimming. A look around them, that the shadows it cast slowly faded away and the light bouncing off the cave, from where they were all the way back, was less intense - proved this theory right.<p>

Before he smacked face-first into the rock, Gryphonmon turned to them, fixing his harsh gaze on the fourteen individuals following him.

"Feel free to follow once you have sufficiently decided how to react if you still fear I am going to attempt to murder you," he rumbled (well, that answered the question of whether he could hear them, though he didn't sound particularly offended- more matter-of-fact). "It will remain open until such a time as you all follow. I suggest you hurry."  
>With that, he turned, and- walked face-first into the rock. The humans of the group could not muster the energy to really be surprised as they watched Gryphonmon phase through the solid crystal like it was air; they watched the data visibly distort around him, shining bright like it did when a digimon was defeated, but the moment he passed, it healed itself right up, looking as though he had never been there.<p>

The digital world, ladies and gentlemen.

"What are we supposed to do?" Toby said, tugging at the hood nestled around his neck and lower face as sort of a nervous gesture.

"Do what he said to do, I suppose," was the answer that Simon gave, looking after the gryphon and attempting to see through the tremendous crystal (to no avail).

"And if it's a trap?" Lammon prodded, frowning slightly.

"Kick some righteous behind," Egakumon said, shooting the sheep a toothy grin.

Before any more conversation could take place, a deep rumbling echoed off the walls, a low noise - loud enough to shake the walls - coming from the direction from whence they had come. Chances are: some digimon that was very, very put out, if the dark shapes in the distance were any indication.  
>"Moving <em>rapidly<em> along!" Simon said in a sort of faux-chipper tone, looking down at Egakumon; the rabbit nodded, and the two were the first to phase through the mass of crystal. As with Gryphonmon, they passed through and then it was as though they had never disturbed the structure. One by one (or, rather, in human and digimon pairs, two by two- but wasn't that _so_ Noah's ark to say?), they passed through. Emily and Kamomon were the last, looking over their shoulders at the shapes in the distance, before they too stepped over the barrier through the glowing rock.

It was blindingly bright for a split second, and then they stepped through.

"Whoa," Kamomon could not hold back, craning his neck to look up. Everything was bright as day, as the majority of the walls were covered in the luminescent mineral. Tiny patches of grey rock underneath it peaked out from the gaps, but the entire chamber was coated in it. Above them, the ceiling shot skywards; it was tremendous, this one room looking as though it were carved out of the inside of a mountain.  
>Needless to say, it was big.<p>

"D'you think this is the same sort of stuff that Wisemon's castle was made of?" Toby could be heard mumbling to Lammon; the sheep nodded once in thoughtful agreement.

"Perhaps."

The kids and digimon alike were taken aback by the scale of this chamber, but they didn't have much time to take it in; a low rumbling sound reminded them of Gryphonmon's presence. They looked, and the great beast was laid on the ground a short ways ahead of them, flexing his claws idly into the dust below his feet. Looking as they were at the tremendous beast, they did not notice the tall golden object he sat around as though he was guarding it- until its lid opened towards them like a door.

It was a sarcophagus, gold and adorned with a red streak across the chest, with blue gems set therein; atop it, a figure of a snake was carved from gold, twisted into a figure eight and eating its own tail. From within the sarcophagus, a digimon stepped out; its face, they could see, was similar to the one carved onto its 'container', bearing a striking resemblance to the burial mask of Tutankhamun. It was, unsurprisingly enough, a pharaoh-like figure; a body of solid gold that shone in the light, a long white cape laying around his shoulders, while a similar length of cloth was fastened around his waist, and purple braces lay around his ankles and wrists.

The group hesitated, tensed; then, the being before them bowed, one hand behind his back and making a sweeping motion with the other.  
>"I am Pharaohmon," the golden digimon said, "guardian of the Relic Desert, under the mountain. Welcome, Virtue Warriors. I have been waiting for you; I have much that needs to be said."<p>

The introductions were curt and a bit tired; not terrifically grandiose, in summation. As they gave names and greetings, the group did not notice that the rock behind them had once more become solid until they heard a loud thunk and the sound of claws on rock from behind.

"Oh, the heck was that," Simon blurted, whipping around as though preparing for a fight. Beyond the translucent glowing material, he could see a faint dark shape that was clawing fruitlessly at the crystal.

"Of no problem to us," Pharaoahmon replied, his voice calm. "It would take more force than all the digimon in the Area could muster to break the barrier."

"Why do I not find this encouraging?" Faris remarked to Emily out of the corner of his mouth.

* * *

><p>To Pharaohmon's credit, he allowed the visiting children and digimon a goodly amount of time in which to settle down and rest. They could not relax, not fully, but they formed a motley semicircle of sorts around the golden digimon's sarcophagus. They were offered Terrafruit, an offer they could not refuse (and also not help but wonder but from whence it was procured, but this wasn't enough to deter them from promptly stuffing their faces with the fruit, even managing to ignore some of the more bizarre flavors thereof should it fall into their hands), and allowed time to talk amongst themselves. Pharaohmon and Gryphonmon stayed quite nearby, not speaking but very likely listening close.<p>

"So, what was this about talking?" Emily said, pulling her knees to her chest once she and her comrades had sated what appetite they had.

Pharaohmon lifted his head and nodded once, turning himself to stand before the sitting group. "I understand it that you have been attacked by a great many of the residents of my own domain."

"You could say that," Rajamon said, folding his paws and trying his best not to sound too abrasive. "If by 'have been attacked' you mean 'have had attempts on our lives made', and by 'many of the residents of your domain' you mean 'every ten minutes'." (He was not doing so well at keeping his tone neutral.)

"An explanation for that'd be a great start," Andrea finished, sitting back and putting one hand on Rajamon's back, smoothing down the fur there.

Pharoahmon nodded his head once, the rest of his body not moving.  
>"Times are desperate. Era has claimed three of the four cardinal sovereigns; only Baihumon and the dragon of the center remain." They knew this; where was he going with this? "The soldiers of Era do not allow you to be killed; to do so would interfere with Era's plans. Deactivate the virtue, and stop his plan in its tracks. Is it any wonder, then, that some of us choose to take matters into our own hands, where Agents and Reapers alike cannot disturb the act?"<p>

Okay, this boded very ill.

The digimon instantly rose to their feet, bristling and preparing for a fight, but what followed was quick. Gryphonmon's eyes narrowed and he roared, but not at the children- it was a sound of dismay, as Pharaohmon threw his hands out. Around him there formed a black mist- they had had enough of mists, fogs, and smokes, and so digimon and human alike immediately moved to cover any orifices before the attack was even called.  
>"<strong>Necromist<strong>!"

What they were were not anticipating was the fact that... first of all, it began to burn at skin, even from the outside, as it settled in the air around them. The second was that instead of knocking them out, it merely felt like a weight on their spirits and mind was settling down- not an inability to move, but merely the total lack of will to. It was like a thousand-pound weight, completely sapping any drive that the digimon had to move. (The humans, meanwhile, were immune to the latter- no, they were merely treated to feeling like they were being misted with acid.)

As the attack settled in around them, their D-GEARs began to chirp. Nice belated reaction there. (Well, they did only activate when a hostile was detected...)  
><em>Pharaohmon. Mega-level demon man digimon. It once held absolute power over parts of the Digital World at its genesis. The mysterious ruins that dot the landscape of the areas it inhabits were buildings raised within days, a testament to its control. If its Necromist attack does not suffice in sapping its opponents will and burning their flesh, it will attack with its Fist of Nile.<em>

Well, that was helpful.

The mist obscured vision in more than one way- it burned their eyes if they opened them, human and digimon alike, and it helped block out what light they could see. Therefore, it was hard to tell that one of their company was moving, stumbling to his feet with a mighty concentration of effort. It was not Egakumon, nor Rajamon, nor even Lammon; no, standing up and getting to his feet slowly was Kamomon. He opened his mouth, despite the mist seeping in to burn his throat and sap away at the will that was standing him up now, he reared his head back.  
>"<strong>Ocean Blast<strong>!"

He fired a jet of water out of his mouth, which absorbed the mist it passed through until it was dark and cloudy; the liquid impacted Pharaohmon to absolutely no effect, but even so Kamomon lurched (clumsily) forward out of the mist, breathing heavy.

"**Fist of N-**!" Pharaohmon began, pulling his fist back to strike the comparatively tiny bird, but he was cut off.

"**Legendary Claw**!" Gryphonmon roared, rearing one of his talon-like forearms back and slashing at Pharaohmon with sword-like claws. His claws raked over the golden body, leaving no scratch or mark in their wake, but it was enough to knock Pharaohmon out of the way and disrupt his attack. The great beast turned his head, and with a flap of his wings, dispersed the mist from around the chosen children and their partners. "Run," he boomed, gesturing his head away from the door. "The door is closed to you, but there is more than one way out."

The group didn't have time to respond, still dealing with shaking away the effects of the Necromist attack, before Gryphonmon roared, rearing down as Pharaohmon pushed himself to his feet. "Now!" he repeated.

"We can't just r-" Simon began, Egakumon cheering on his words, before Julian unceremoniously cut him off.

"Drop the stupid, Simon!" the older boy barked. "We're being given an out!"

It didn't take much convincing for Simon and Egakumon to be shaken out of their knee-jerk reaction- after all, there was no heroism to be done here. They were being graciously given an out by Gryphonmon- and considering the implications of Pharaohmon's words, they had darned best _take it_.  
>They herded themselves quickly out of the way, taking advantage of the time they were granted by the beast taking on the pharaoh, using Gryphonmon's cover to <em>run like heck<em> further into the cavern.

Well... most of them ran like heck.

It is not to say that Emily nor Kamomon stayed behind by any means - they had no particular death wish. However, Emily gradually slowed her pace, and Kamomon - running with his wings held out and swept back behind him - only continued on for a short while more before turning to notice his partner's hesitation. The distance between them and the group grew as, behind the relative shelter of an outcropping of rock sticking up from the floor, the pair drew to a complete stop.

"What's the matter?" Kamomon said, rubbing at and above his beak- a bit of the mist was still lingering in his sinuses and throat, it seemed. He looked up at his partner, brow furrowed, trying to determine if something was the matter with Emily.

"We should go back," she said slowly, frowning and leaning against the mass of crystal they hid behind. Her mind was all over- Gryphonmon seemed surprised when Pharaohmon had attacked them. He didn't seem to want to have to fight the digimon he called himself the servant of, and the thoughts were nagging at the back of her mind. She said none of this, however.

Kamomon said nothing, for his own part; he only looked up at her and nodded once, solemnly, a faint smile finding its way onto his beak. "Okay."

Hidden as they could be, Kamomon digivolved as quickly as he could - momentarily, Kaizokumon stood where Kamomon's feet were a second ago, and then the D-GEAR began to glow and shake, propelling him to Perfect form. The newly-formed Ospreymon bowed his head and turned, allowing Emily to shamble onto his back (taking care not to pull on his feathers).

(Ahead, the rest of the group had not noticed the dropping out of one of their members- none except Sampamon, who silently craned her neck as she sat around Luke's shoulders, her eyes catching the tail-end of the second flash of digivolution light. She drew her lips back in a contemplative expression, but said nothing as she watched Ospreymon's form kick and rise into the air, flying silently despite his size.)

Emily clung tight to Ospreymon's back; ahead of them, they could see Pharaohmon and Gryphonmon locked in combat, with Pharaohmon - even at the distance - quite plainly having the upper hand. Emily's suspicions were confirmed when the duo heard him rumble:  
>"Don't make me fight you!"<p>

Pharoahmon replied to this with a snarl and a growl, very feral considering his humanoid appearance. "You're the one who places a _pipe dream_ over a certain thing- don't blame me because _you_ decided now was a good time to _disobey me_!"

"You're gonna wanna hold tight, lass," Ospreymon said quietly. Emily nodded, barely having the time to fist her hands in her partner's back before the big bird swooped downwards towards the pharaoh, talons beginning to glow. "**Seagull Dive**!" he cried loudly, smashing feet-first into the golden digimon and wrapping his claws around Pharaomon's torso. The Mega was caught off-guard, but not for long; while Ospreymon attempted to carry him higher into the air, he wrested his way out of the bird's grip. The rocky floor shook when his feet connected, and Gryphonmon was craning his neck to look up to the avian.

This was, clearly, a poor move, as Pharaohmon wasted no time in striking out at his servant digimon. "**Fist of Nile**!"

The glowing golden fist connected, hard, with Gryphonmon's cheek, sending the tremendous beast skidding to the floor on his side. Ospreymon keened, dropping closer to the ground, standing (or, flapping in place) between Pharaohmon and the temporarily-downed Gryphonmon. The bird flapped powerfully, building a whirlwind in front of him. "**Gale Storm**!" he cawed, spraying a blast of snow and shards of ice into the whipping wind before, with a final flap of his wings, send the mini-tornado at Pharaohmon.

Though it pushed him back a bit, the ice was no match for the solid metal of Pharaohmon's body, and he only looked stoically at the girl and the bird, his gold face unreadable, as he stepped closer. He did not seem to mind the attack at all as he reared his hand back once more.  
>"<strong>Fist of Nile<strong>!"

Ospreymon squawked, far from dignified, as he was knocked backwards, and Emily was sent flying off of the bird's back in turn. The girl quickly gathered herself up, and despite landing awkwardly, she forced herself to her feet, running to place a hand on the large bird's neck.

"Are you okay?" she said, her voice close to breaking.

"I'll be fine," Ospreymon replied, his voice a bit squawky and his gaze not yet entirely focused, but he smiled lopsidedly.

Emily barely had time to feel relieved before she heard the booming voice of Pharaohmon calling an attack once more. "**Necromist**!"

And this time, it was Gryphonmon that lurched forward, taking the entire brunt of the attack.

"Well, that works, too," they could hear the pharaoh say from beyond the beast.

"What does he mean by that?" Ospreymon said, hushed, hurried, but as the mist seeped into Gryphonmon, the one digimon taking the brunt of the entire attack, began to rumble low. The mist sunk into his body, and then Pharaohmon whispered something in a language they did not understand, and a nefarious black aura began to absorb the light around Gryphonmon.  
>When the beast began to turn, they could see a distinct difference- his eyes seemed clouded over, and his teeth were bared as a low snarl escaped him.<p>

Emily's D-GEAR, the voice lonely and almost tinny without the other devices nearby, chirped up.  
><em>Gryphonmon. Mega-level mythical animal digimon. A digimon of great power and keen movement, it is difficult to defeat a gryphonmon. For this reason, they tend to protect important places within the Digital World. Its Solo Roar attack can disrupt an opponent's data with sound alone.<em>

"What did you do!?" Emily said as Ospreymon got to his feet, fluffing his feathers up.

"Well, there's got to be a way for a pharaoh to keep his subjects in the afterlife," Pharaohmon's voice said nonchalantly, though they couldn't see him, as Gryphonmon formed a wall between the duo and the pharaoh.

"He used the mist to take away Gryphonmon's will to resist," Ospreymon whispered as they backed up blindly, not taking his eyes off of the chimera-like digimon, "and then... some sort of magic. That's my guess."

"Very observant!" Apparently, Pharaohmon had heard him. "Not that it will help you to know as such. Attack."

"Climb on!" Ospreymon cawed immediately, and Emily followed the request; she heaved herself onto Ospreymon's back as quickly as she could. The bird immediately kicked off the ground, lifting into the air as quickly as he could- just in enough time to avoid the slashing claws of the gryphon.

It was abundantly clear to both that attempting to fight was absolutely futile, but giving up now was out of the question- Emily couldn't shake the feeling that this was their fault, a nagging thought in the back of her head. She pushed it back, clinging tight to Ospreymon's back. The bird was heading towards the sides of the cavern, hoping to find a place to hide, recuperate, and recover for a moment. The choice was taken out of the matter when, from below, Gryphonmon bellowed out an attack.

"**Solo Roar**!"

Though it had no physical appearance, the sound that Gryphonmon let out was more than a roar- it shook the very air, and Ospreymon keened loudly as he began to flicker with light. He quickly adjusted, trying not to crash with his partner as passenger; he dropped as gracefully as he could, the shine of de-digivolving beginning to overtake his body, into a crevice between the masses of crystal lining the wall.  
>Once they were near the crack, Ospreymon could no longer maintain his form, and they dropped down into the small chamber- it was almost like a bottle, a small hole opening up into what felt like a container made of the glowing mineral.<p>

Almost immediately, they heard the thudding and scraping of Gryphonmon's claws on the outward-facing face of the rock, but... to no avail. As Pharaohmon had said- it would take far more energy than the digimon of the Area could muster to break.  
>Well... this was their chance to recuperate, with a tremendous monster battering fruitlessly but ominously at the layer of rock that was all that separated them.<p>

"Oh, god, what do we _do_?" Emily said after a moment, a bit breathlessly, half-frozen to where she knelt on the ground.

"We'll find a way out," Kamomon reassured, trying to place a wing on his partner's shoulder, but she shook him off. He frowned, looking down at the ground. "Emily, what's wrong?"

At the question, Emily shook her head, forcing herself to her feet, wavering a bit as she did. "It's nothing, we need to find a way-"

"Don't give me that!" Kamomon said suddenly, a bit more forcefully than was his wont, and it him got an appropriately surprised look from his partner. The bird's face softened, then. "Or have you forgotten what our Virtue is? Dedication. We're gonna find a way out- giving up's not what we do!"

He meant this to be a heartening statement, but Emily's face fell. Another hard, but still ineffectual, smack against the rock by the half-mindless brainwashed Gryphonmon shook their little chamber, but even so she slid down to the ground as she leaned against the wall opposite the one the gryphon was wailing on.

"Oh, birdseed," Kamomon mumbled dejectedly, kicking into the air and flapping his wings a bit frantically- he needed to work out his jitters through physical exertion. "Emily, talk to me," he said, a bit louder, not yet touching ground. "This isn't like you."

"This wouldn't have happened if we had just followed them," the girl said after a moment, once more pulling her knees to her chest as she tended to do. "We just messed it up."

"Don't say that," the bird said, landing and placing a hand-wing on his partner's knee.

"But it's true, Gyphonmon took the attack for us, and-"

"And Pharaohmon probably would have done it to him anyway," the seagull countered. "He disobeyed to protect us."

Emily sighed, putting her head down onto her knees. "I bet that Simon or Andrea or one of the others could have done it," she said, quietly, more to herself than anything. At this, Kamomon was taken aback, and he lifted his wing off of his partner's leg, and instead moved to sit down beside her.

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"They're the big heroes, you know?" Emily said, her voice clearly sounding dejected. "They're the ones who can always take care of it when something goes wrong. Even Faris, when the rest of us were in danger, he dove in to help his partner." She looked at the bird, and shook her head. "Us - or, no, let's be real here, me - I'm just kind of there. Dedication, yeah, that's my virtue. Big deal. Everyone on the team is dedicated. It's not like I'm special."

"Don't talk like that!" Kamomon said, frowning and shaking his head, but Emily kept talking.

"I mean... don't you think it feels like half the time, everyone forgets I'm even here? I mean, it's not like that's anything different from how it's always been, but-"

"No!" Kamomon squawked, again raising his voice, and standing up defiantly. "We don't have to be the big heroes to be important, you know that. You're choosing to ignore what you mean to the team!" He frowned, now, and bowed his head. "And to me. I'd follow you to the ends of the earth, Emily."

"I don't know why you'd do that, though," she said- it seemed to all be coming out now, these feelings that had been building up in silence. "There's nothing I do a lot better than anyone else, I don't even have that strong a personality."

Kamomon fixed her with a look, and shook his head. "It's true, we're not the ones who always have to run in and make a big fuss, but we'll be there until the end. I'll follow you because I know your heart's good. Just because you're not screaming from the mountaintop doesn't mean you're not important. Sometimes, the fact that you're willing to be the quiet backbone means a lot, you know?"  
>His voice was breaking, tears forming in the corners of his eyes- and he was trying to hide it. "I don't know where this is coming from, or why you've never talked to anyone - let alone me- about it, but..." his voice broke entirely here, as he merely looked at his partner, trying to let the silence do the talking for him.<p>

In response, Emily merely reached forward and pulled the bird to her chest, smiling faintly. "Thank you, Kamomon."

"It's what I'm here to do," the bird replied, sniffling a bit (undignified as ever).

Pressed into the hug they were, they did not notice immediately that Emily's D-GEAR began to glow, the light seeping from the device into the body of both girl and bird.

_**True warrior of the Virtue of Dedication; this is your genesis.**_

Outside, though they could not see it, they could hear it- Gryphonmon roared and slashed at the crystal again, and this time, a loud _crack_ sounded through the rock. Both Emily and Kamomon's eyes snapped open, and like all those before them, instead of their usual they were glowing bright blue, while the white glow crept up until it covered the both of them. The light shone brightly enough to make the glowing crystal around them look pale for the comparison, the effect only increasing as it expanded into a sphere, snow and ice made entirely of the light swirling around them like a blizzard.

"Kamomon, genesis digivolve to..."

The light only grew bigger as the combined form within the light grew, creating a shape that outclassed even Galeomon before them. All around them, it felt freezing cold as the rushing sound surrounded them, but they felt as though the cold could not reach their skin, which grew comfortably warm despite it all. The rushing sound that had been present for all before made itself known, but this time it was combined with the howling of a bitter cold wind.

Kamomon grew tremendous with Emily's lent energy. The form was that of a tremendous bird of prey, growing so large that without much trouble at all it smashed the crystalline room apart as it grew. Snow-white contour feathers lay coarse and close to the majority of his tremendous body, laying over a thick layer of down. His underside was covered in black feathers, while his wings were a deep blue (though on the back of each wing, a white insignia - the symbol of their virtue - was emblazoned). Long feathers tipped in the same colour decorated around his chest and the back of his head, while three tremendously long, thick feathers formed his tail, in oh-so-slightly varying shades of blue. A crest of blue feathers created eyebrows of sorts, while shocks of black feathers edged his eyes (which themselves were vivid yellow, their sclera turning black). His beak grew sharp and wicked, though still banded with black and tipped in grey as his beak was in Kamomon form.

Golden rings snapped around his neck as it grew, more long and graceful though not wholly so; one fastened around near the base of his head, the other where the neck met the body. A necklace of sorts, made of thick rope, adorned with tremendous shark teeth and blue beads, lay loose around his neck. Golden rings fell into place, as well, around the base of his tail, and around each pale-blue, featherless foot. Said feet were equipped with talons of tremendous size, black as onyx.

With a long keen - long, and as loud as any roar that Gryphonmon could muster- as he threw his head back, the new digimon opened his wings to disperse the light around him. It did, indeed, disperse, like powder snow blown away by a wind. Around his feet lay the shattered remains of the crystal his sudden and rapid increase in size had broken.

"**Rocmon**!"

A roc versus a gryphon. Okay, then; mythical creature showdown.

_Though of course, a few big hero moments wouldn't hurt, aye?_ Rocmon's new voice echoed throughout Emily's consciousness. His accent was now _inescapably_ Scottish, almost to the point of being hard to pick up a few words.

However, all Emily could think to say, half-dazed as she was and still attempting to recuperate from her mini-breakdown: "... it feels weird not to have any hands." Rocmon chuckled deep, both within Emily's mind and in the external world around them. Gryphonmon, to his credit (or whatever it could be called- being savvy, perhaps), did not in fact wait for his target to prepare.  
>"<strong>Legendary Claw<strong>!" The gryphon still had the dark aura around him, and it seeped into the energy gracing his claws when he attacked, turning their glow black as well.

Rocmon, however, moved surprisingly gracefully for a bird of his size, kicking off hard into the air and flapping his tremendous wings to stay aloft, causing Gryphonmon's attack to slice thin air. The force of the air he moved, alone, was enough to force Gryphonmon a few feet back, but the beast merely growled and spread his own wings, leaping upwards as well. He did not move as gracefully as the bird, but it did not make him any less of a threat.

Thus, Rocmon decided not to waste any time, either. "**Roc Claw**!" the bird yelled, his claws glowing with icy energy as he struck out with his talons at the beast, striking true and slashing across the digimon's chest. The wound it ripped into Gryphonmon began to ice over, causing the victim to snarl in pain.

Thus, in return, the gryphon promptly threw himself forward, latching his jaws onto Rocmon's throat. "**Möbius Bite**!"

Understandably, Rocmon was less than fond of this, and so ended it as best he could- by wrenching his neck back and forth, until Gryphonmon was actually thrown off and into a rock wall. The chimera digimon got back up very quickly, and reared his head back to release another sonic attack. "**Solo Roar**!" he bellowed, and the shaking air threw Rocmon himself to the ground, forced out of the air.

Rocmon glared, however, and refused to be kept down- and so leapt towards Gryphonmon. "**Heaven Strike**!" within seconds grabbed the other digimon around his midsection within his massive talons. From here he shot into the air (one got the impression he'd be faster if he wasn't towing along a tremendous digimon), digging his glowing claws into the gryphon's body and snapping down with his beak as they rose. Before long, however, Gryphonmon wrenched himself out of the bird's grip- but did not have the time to spread his wings, and so crashed to the ground and from there did not move.

The bird let loose a long breath as he lowered himself to the ground, keeping an eye on Gryphonmon. His enemy did not go up in the light of a de-digivolution or a return to egg, but breathed heavy, remaining still. It was understandable- he was a bit more weakened by the onslaught Pharaohmon had unleashed on him not long before.  
>So that made it clear what the target was from here.<p>

Rocmon lifted into the air, then, to close the distance between himself and Pharaohmon.  
>Of note, however, was at this point, the other children and their digimon could no longer ignore the happenings- and were just now arriving in time to see the giant bird glare down Pharaohmon, unnoticed by the combattants.<p>

It seemed that Pharaohmon was a tad less enthused about fighting a digimon of similar level, and much increased size, than he was about beating up on his servant or the ultimate-level bird. This was clear because he tried to retreat into his sarcophagus, but Rocmon landed, now, and smashed a foot down into the golden box before the pharaoh could reatreat into it, crumpling it like it was made of foil.

"You make an attempt on the lives of those meant to save your world, abuse a digimon loyal to you, and then you attempt to hide from the consequences?" the tremendous bird rumbled, glaring down.

Pharaohmon made no coherent reply, only reared his fist back to strike out. "**Fist of Nile**!" He leapt up as he threw the punch, so as to deliver the attack to Rocmon's chest, instead of his knees.  
>Despite the disparity in size, the blow was powerful enoguh to send the bird tumbling backwards, but not enough to put him out of commission by any stretch of the imagination.<p>

"**Glacial Crush**!" Rocmon called, getting to his feet, and his entire body began to glow. From the ground in front of him, towards Pharaohmon, a mass of ice lifted and, moving as fast as water despite its solid nature, moved at the pharaoh like a wave to - indeed - crush him.

Pharaohmon retaliated with another thrown Fist of Nile, which shattered the ice- but not all of it, and the remaining bits continued their collision course with him, smacking him backwards and doing some hefty damage. Before Rocmon could act, Pharaohmon threw out his hands once more.  
>"<strong>Necromist<strong>!"

The black mist spread around the bird, and while it burned at his eyes and his throat, there was no weight on his mind- not even a bit.

"It will do nothing against me," Rocmon rumbled. "If it could not fully subdue me even at Child level, what makes you think it will have effect now?"

Pharaomon growled deep - again, surprisingly feral for his appearance - and reared both hands back this time for a double-fisted Fist of Nile; Rocmon's reaction to this, after digging his claws into solid rock to prevent himself from skidding back too far, was to retaliate with an attack of his own.  
>He kicked into the air, and slashed both feet down through the air, glowing with icy energy. "<strong>Roc Claw<strong>!"

His claws actually had the force to tear open the metal casing around Pharaohmon's body- or, as it was, his body proper, as he seemed to be wholly hollow within. As the torn metal began to freeze over, Rocmon merely bowed his head and spread his wings wide. "**Bitter Hailstorm**!" he called, and from within his wings shot a thousand tiny blades of ice, hailing down on the golden pharaoh. It was enough- the last blades of ice did not even contact him, merely sinking into the ground and melting, as a flash of light reduced the pharaoh - and his sarcophagus, oddly enough - to a shining golden egg.

The bird cast a look to the side, looking to Gryphonmon; the beast was lifting himself to his feet, the dark aura gone from his body. However, Rocmon's attention was more drawn by the fact that the group of the other children and their digimon were standing close by, shouting their congratulations and audulations.

Within Rocmon, Emily couldn't help but laugh as she could feel Rocmon's face grow warm- were his skin visible below his feathers, the gigantic bird of prey would be blushing something fierce.

"Good going! Even bigger than me, yeom," Finmon said from where Faris was holding her, her voice chirpy and happy as ever, while Faris himself threw a thumbs-up.

"Five out of seven, and we're all hardcore! We're on a roll!" Egakumon cheered, punching the air victoriously.

"Ach, thank you," the bird said, bowing his head humbly. He looked up, however, when a rumbling sound came from behind the children- indeed, the gathered group turned to look. Gryphonmon had gotten to his feet, and was limping towards the group.

"Uhm... hello again," Toby said, smiling a bit sheepishly; Lammon did the same, much more literally on the 'sheepish' bit.

Gryphonmon nodded his acknowledgement of the other children, but then looked to Rocmon specifically. "I owe you a great deal," he said, and then lowered himself so he was kneeling on his front legs- a bow, as best a quadruped could manage one. He straightened himself up again in time to notice that Rocmon was returning the gesture, except a bit more awkwardly, as he was, in fact, a bird. Gryphonmon smiled at this, then looked down at the gathered children and digimon. "The least I can do is help you out. You are headed to the Metal City, correct?"

"Aye-aye, captain," Simon said with a thumbs-up.

"Climb on board," Rocmon said, bowing as best he could and extending a wing to act as a bridge. The children and digimon alike clambered up, as atop Rocmon's massive back there was more than enough room for all of them to ride comfortably. "And hold tightly."

Once they were all organized and in minimal danger of falling off, Gryphonmon took off into the air, and Rocmon followed suit after the beast. They flew for quite a while, even despite their size; this cavern seemed to comprise the inside of not just a mountain, but a ridge of mountains, going on for some distance. Eventually - very eventually- they reached a dead-end, made entirely of crystal - as all the other walls were. They were not surprised, particularly, when Gryphonmon flew straight through it, phasing through it as though it were air. Rocmon, thus, did not hesitate, and did much the same, and they were treated to a sky full of stars when they emerged on the other side.

The sky was crystal-clear, the moons shining bright and full amongst the stars- and yet, ahead of them lay an expanse of pure urban sprawl, pristine and shining in the starlight. They were still, for their own parts, up on the ridge of a mountain; behind them lay the desert, whose expanse they had crossed in underground and roundabout ways.  
>They landed, Gryphonmon and Rocmon side by side; once his passengers had departed, Rocmon began to glow and devolved, and then there stood Emily with Mismon nestled in her arms.<p>

"I figured," Mismon explained, "that even if I could fly us to wherever Baihumon is - wherever he is - I'd have trouble landing without breaking something or hurting you."

"Thank you, Gryphonmon," Emily said, looking up at the tremendous mix-and-matched monster. He bowed his head again.

"I owe you a debt and apology."

"Eh, debts aren't really our _style_," Andrea said, putting her hands on her hips. "Don't worry about it."

"What are you going to do?" Lammon inquired, sitting down on the rock and looking up at the Mega.

Gryphonmon considered for a moment. "I will return to guard over Pharaohmon's egg for when it hatches once more, and pray that in revival he will have learned the errors of his ways. It is my duty to serve the guardian of the Relic Desert, and its guardian he has been and shall be evermore." He paused, then smirked. "At least, if I have anything to do with it." Mismon looked up at Emily and smiled.

They understood, or at least tried to; they bid their goodbyes, but the gryphon was not a particularly wordy nor sentimental digimon. Before long, Gryphonmon faded through the rock face once more. When Simon placed a hand on it, it was solid, and then he looked out into the twinkling lights of the urban sprawl.

"So... where do we go from here? Straight into the city?" Toby said; Julian nodded his head.

"But we have to be careful. If Pharaohmon's words can't be trusted, his behavior can," the eldest boy murmured.

"We'll have to treat any friendly digimon as a potential foe, then?" Luke said, sounding a bit defeated, as though he had his sneaking suspicions that this would end up being the case. Julian turned and nodded.

"For now."

"But for _now_, I'm proposing we go the heck to sleep," Simon said, stretching his arms above his head, and nobody could really complain at that.


	40. Chapter 40: Through an Open Door

_A/N: HOLY LONG CHAPTER, BATMAN._

* * *

><p><em>You realize that what you ask of us is all but unthinkable on a generous day- it is heresy, on a worse one.<em>

"Yeah, but I think with the circumstances as they are, I think I can be excused in asking for it?"

_Hmm. Then so be it. You ask that your..._ comrades_ be granted power this once; it shall be so. The data will be granted to your former allies, made allies once more. Know that it is granted you only because it is too late in the game for us to take any further risks, and because we have placed our trust in you above all else. Use it well.  
>Mind this: it is meant only to aid and protect our chosen warriors; use it for no other purpose, or it will be stripped of both of them- and likely your own, as well, as recompense.<em>

"Aye-aye, captain stripey. You've got my word. All of our words."

_Were you any other digimon, I would strike you down for referring to me as such._

"Recognized."

* * *

><p>It was in the afternoon; the kids were continuing their trek down the mountainside and towards the shimmering city below them. Light glinted off every other surface in the city, with no clouds to obscure the sky. The sight below them was like a gradient- from the less-polished edges of the area leading forward into the shiny, polished central area. It stretched farther than they could see, buildings and structures across a stark flat expanse, no mountains or hills at the other side. Clouds of smoke and exhaust rose from a few of the buildings, lending a slight haze to the environment.<p>

A feeling was spreading throughout the group, one they couldn't explain, and one that was unspoken- that this was go time, this was time to do-or-die. Perhaps it was that this was the final of the cardinal sovereigns, or that they had seen Zhuqiaomon fall before their very eyes to make it more real, more concrete. Perhaps it was that they understood, now, that they had to watch their backs, as not every digimon with good intentions was on their side.

The point was that all of them, digimon and human, truly felt the weight of this situation on their shoulders.

And some more literally than others- Egakumon was riding piggy-back with arms draped around Simon's shoulders to gain a better vantage point as to what lay ahead, while Sampamon stayed in her usual position around Luke's; Mismon and Finmon were still held safely by their respective partners; it was only Rajamon, Iguamon, and Lammon that stayed on foot.

"Geeze, you're heavy," Simon griped; Egakumon grinned in return.

"Gets you in shape," Finmon squeaked from her place in Faris' arms.

"Is _that_ what you call it," Faris replied in a low mumble, rolling his eyes with a smirk.

"Doin' you a favor, yeom."

"I don't see how you can manage it all the time, man," Simon continued, looking over at Luke.  
>Luke, for his part, blinked a couple times, confused; he had grown entirely accustomed to the weight of Sampamon, despite her surprising bulk, laying around his shoulders, to the point that it very nearly felt odd when she wasn't draped there. Once he understood the remark, a moment later, he smiled faintly but said nothing.<p>

He would have spoken, had Egakumon not suddenly nearly _jumped up and stood on Simon's shoulders_ with a yelp.  
>"What's that?"<p>

And the group looked out into the shining city below them, but saw nothing; where they should have been looking, instead, was just a short distance down the hill. Having appeared there mere moments before, silent as a passing shadow but unmistakably there, stood a too-familiar form, even with back turned to the group. Rusted wing-frames poked out from a long coat; Epidemon of the reapers, unmistakably, stood there. As silently as he had appeared, he turned his head, glowing red eyes glancing across the group lazily- taunting.

The Mega said nothing, merely lifted one hand in gesture to the city; each member of the group followed his hand, even if for a split second, and when they looked again, he was gone. The group was still and silent for a moment or two to follow.

"You don't suppose his killing Magoriamon was another ruse, do you?" Emily mused, looking to Andrea. "I mean, if he was still around, it'd be an explanation for... whatever just happened."

The other girl frowned and furrowed her brow, then shook her head. "No. I don't think so. Not that I want to try and figure out what's going on in that bird-faced freak's mind."

"Do you suppose it's a trap?" Toby said, looking around at the others around him.

"Andrea thinks everything is a trap," Julian said off-handedly, and when the girl looked at him with an eyebrow raised, he continued. "And she's often right," he finished coolly, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Epidemon doesn't... do a lot straight-fowardly," Luke said, putting a hand to his mouth as he thought. "He's more clever than PicoDaemon was, or than Javermon is."

"But he's also lazy," continued Sampamon. "If he's setting an obvious trap, then the chances of it being legitimate or a red herring are about fifty-fifty."

Rajamon paused, looking over at boy and snake. "So basically what you're saying is that if he is setting a trap at all, then it's a crapshoot," the tiger said slowly.

"But then... he'd have to be counting on them to catch that," Lammon said, quiet and thoughtful. "He'd know that they would know."

And so they went on for a moment or two, debating as they began to walk further down the hillside. Eventually, however, Simon gave a groan of dismay.

"Ugh, this is all way too much what-ifs and I-know-you-knows. I vote we just get a move on, you know? If it's a trap, we'll be careful and ready to kick his beaky face in. If it's not, well, then what are we wasting time for?"

"Hear, hear," Faris said from a few feet behind.

And, really, the group couldn't particularly complain- and even if they could, they reasoned there was no use standing around or poking about. (Perhaps a delay was all that Epidemon was trying to incur? Ugh, Simon was right- there was entirely too much _I know you know_ afoot here, if they were thinking that.) Even the usually-so-slow-to-act Toby took off at a decent clip as Simon threw himself down the hillside full-tilt, Egakumon holding fast to his partner's shoulders.

However, the newest of their number was not without remark. "Why do you think we keep following him?" Luke asked, his voice low as he spoke to the partner slung around his shoulders.

"He tends to have good instincts, and good intent, I think. But more importantly," the snake replied, "we tend to need someone to yell 'go', and that's what he's best at."

"Hmm. ... I guess."

* * *

><p>It wasn't far from where they were until their feet clapped down on the metal "pavement" that covered the ground within the city; there were no suburbs, as once the land evened out it was nothing but tall buildings; out here at the ends, it seemed more rusted and old, a bit less well-maintained than what they expected to see further in. Pipes of varying widths and breadths ran overhead and along the sides of buildings, granting an industrial feel to the atmosphere. It felt like they had stepped inside of a giant machine- a factory that opened to the air.<p>

And yet... the further they walked, ever on the alert as they were, it was completely disconcerting in how quiet it was. Aside from the occasional far-off churn of machinery or outburst of smoke, there was no hustle or bustle to be beheld. That stillness didn't feel like this was the natural state of the place.

"First person to suggest we split up to figure out what's going on is getting punched," Andrea said offhandedly, looking around them as they came to a four-way intersection of street-paths.

"We could just try to look for Baihumon, and try to head off the Reapers... uhm, if they're not already there," Toby said, quiet- so quiet, in fact, that very few of the group actually heard him.

"I'm going to say we should just forge ahead," Julian said, and unlike the youngest of the group, he spoke loud enough to be heard. "If the Reapers have beaten us here, then we can't waste time. If we can get to wherever the Sovereign is first, then we can hold the line."

Toby mumbled something along the lines of 'that's what I just said', but did not complain much further; Lammon nudged his hand with her nose in what was perhaps a comforting gesture. "We shouldn't go in unprepared, right?" he said, this time speaking up. "I mean- do you think the digimon should digivolve, so we're not caught off-guard?"

"Kid's got a point," Andrea conceded. The others nodded.

A series of flashes followed. First, three of the pairs combine: Simon and Egakumon became Kisekimon; Andrea and Rajamon, ImperialBaghamon; Julian and Iguamon, WarTriassimon. Each brandished their weapons as the light around them dissipiated.  
>Toby and Luke were next to hold out their D-GEARs (while Sampamon slithered down to the ground), and their partners were engulfed by light as the devices began to vibrate- they barely stopped in Adult form, growing to Perfect levels within seconds; there stood Nimbimon and HebiDramon.<br>Following all of this, Mismon and Finmon hopped out of their partners' arms; they did not immediately have the energy to reach their Mega forms once again, but twin bursts of light returned them to their child forms- and moments afterwards, up to their Adult levels. With that, the final two - Kaizokumon and Shayumon - joined the ranks (or rather, the unruly mismatched mob).

An assorted bunch, to be sure, but impressive enough to look at.

They wasted no further time; Luke clambered onto his partner's back, while Nimimon allowed Toby, Emily, and Faris alike to climb on board. (The snake-dragon would have extended the same offer, but it was a mite awkward to try and grab a hold on her back.)  
>And with that, they took off- straight forward, towards the center of the city, those with weapons having them brandished and at the ready.<p>

* * *

><p>"They're getting close, you know," Epidemon remarked, nonchalant and giving only a sidelong glance to his superior. "And at this rate, they're going to beat us there. We're, what, day, two days away from the center? And they're right behind us."<p>

"Do you think I'm unaware?" Javermon spat, digging his claws into the metal that formed the roof of the building they stood on. The uppermost sheet of metal crumpled like tinfoil in his grip. "It's not my fault the puppet and his _friends_ are on _patrol_." They had to be cautious; the city had been nearly empty when they had arrived, which signaled to them that someone had been there to evacuate the citizens, and the two Reapers knew exactly who it was.

"How about this," the bird man remarked, turning to face the canine-like digimon. "You handle them. See if you can get the core without me. _I'll_ go take care of the brats and steer them away. I think the... brute force... job is more your _style_, at any rate. They'll be expecting a trap from me, anyway. I can't let them down now."

Epidemon did not wait for confirmation from the dog; he merely leapt from the building and into the alley, and slipped silently away through the shadows.

Javermon watched him as he went, his eyes trained to spy the plague doctor no matter how sneakily and swiftly he moved. Fine then; so be it.  
>The more for him. He reared his head back and let loose an ear-splittingly loud howl as his body began to shift form, once more becoming feral and animal in nature.<p>

* * *

><p>To the group of children and digimon, the howl's source was entirely too close. The sound rang off the buildings and streets- and in their ears. They skidded to a stop, just temporarily, when the noise hit them.<p>

"Did you hear that?" ImperialBaghamon said, peering skyward and frowning, squinting in the light.

"How could we miss it, yeom?" Shayumon replied, frowning.

"Making sure I wasn't hearing things," the feline replied, growling low and gripping his blades. He could swear that he saw a dark shape leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the distance, but he couldn't be sure.

"Then let's get a move on it," Kisekimon decided; each digimon nodded in turn- and once again, they took off at a run, setting a decent pace. They weren't aiming for what they (correctly) assumed was Javermon; the primary directive at this point was to try and find Baihumon, wherever he may lay.

Unbeknownst to the group, Epidemon slunk through the shadows of the alleyways they passed, a plan brewing in his brain as he slipped from one to the next. No way was he in any mood to strike directly- not when the brats had three of their lot already in Mega form. No sir. But if he could pick one or two off...  
>If the bird-faced mega had a mobile mouth on his mask, he would have been smirking as the gears and cogs began to turn in his head. He ducked further into the alleyway he had just entered. He just needed a distraction, and well, he had plenty of <em>those<em>.

After all, they had even gotten all ready for a fight- it'd be a shame to make that all for naught.

* * *

><p>It was quite a while later- the sun was going down behind the border of skyscrapers around them, and even so, they had met no digimon, friend or foe- it was becoming unsettling. In fact, it felt as if they had barely made any progress at all- the stark atmosphere of the city and the lack of digimon made every street seem the same as the last, just a different array of machinery.<p>

Even so, they knew better than to let their guards down. ... but that didn't mean that they weren't getting a bit frustrated.

"What the heck is _going on_ here?" Faris groaned, threading his fingers through his hair.

"It's... kinda creepy, yeah," Emily concurred, looking around and furrowing her brow.

While the group had their little discussion, however, Kisekimon's ears perked up straight. Behind his cloth face-mask, his lip drew back into a half-grimace as he gripped his twin blades tightly in his hands. "Guys," he said, voice barely above a breath- but that was enough. All seven digimon braced themselves, and the four children (who were currently still children) could feel the change in mood and the changes in the bodies of the digimon they rode on.

It was big, it was heavy, and its feet crunched the metal below them effortlessly. A sight familiar - at least in passing - to three of the pairs of partners, it was a tremendous dragon made of steel- wires ran across its heavily-armored body, twin cannons mounted above its metal-masked face. It had no gaze- its eyes were hollow and black. Claws, wires, and metal plates- it was too complex to take in all at once as anything but as an intimidating whole.

"A Machinedramon again," ImperialBaghamon growled; Toby and Faris both were taken aback; Andrea, within her partner's core, was much the same. It was the same digimon - at least the same sort - that they had seen an illusion of back when they had been partly back in the real world.  
>The fact that it was solid now did not make it any less intimidating.<p>

Cue the D-GEARs:  
><em>Machinedramon. Mega-level machine digimon. Perhaps the ultimate in cyborg and robotic digimon, its defenses are beyond measure. Its core, which provides unlimited power, is imbued with malice and harmful intenet. Its Giga Cannon leaves no survivors.<em>

"Looks like we got us a fight, then," Kisekimon said, rearing down and preparing himself. Alongside him, WarTriassimon gripped his spear in both hands while ImperialBaghamon blew out a puff of flame, bringing all four sabre-wielding arms into battle-ready position.

The Machinedramon, however, wasted no time in waiting for its targets to prepare- instead, it merely let out a monotone, mechanical:  
>"<strong>Giga Cannon<strong>."

With a mechanical whirring, it reared down, and the insides of the cannons on its back flared up- and fired. In a flash, the three megas of the team threw themselves into the way to shield the others. It worked, for a value of worked- they took the brunt of the attack, and while they were no longer fresh as daisies, they were in no danger of de-digivolving.  
>But they only took the brunt- the other four, digimon and human alike, still took some of it, and were chucked backwards by the force of the cannon-fire, incurring a rather swift and merciless de-digivolution. (Luckily - for a value of luck - those riding on the digimon's backs were expelled from their positions before the digimon became considerably smaller.)<p>

The group, dazed as they were from the blow, did not notice the scraggly form of Epidemon stepping up alongside the Machinedramon. "Well, this is going splendidly, isn't it, kiddos?" he drawled, sounding positively bored. "Having fun?"

"If this was a trap, it's a sorry excuse for one," Kisekimon said, standing his ground even as Machinedramon's cannons began to glow faintly, one heavy foot crushing the metal below as the robotic dragon stepped forward.

"Oh, come on now. Even I'm not so lazy as to leave this as the only trap. I'm positively _hurt_," Epidemon said, dramatically putting one over-sized bony hand to his chest, then looked back at Luke. "You should know better! Or were you trying to lull them into a false sense of secur-"

"Don't." ImperialBaghamon pointed the blades in his left hands at the Reaper, eyes narrowed. "It's not going to do you any good to try and sew the seeds of discord."

"But it's so _fun_," Epidemon said, his voice a whine, once again making a gesture to indicate that they had wounded his heart. "But if you insist, I can stop _trying_ and more _doing_." Before anyone had a chance to stop and think, the Reaper leapt forward. In one bound, he cleared the group of digimon and towards the children and digimon scattered on the ground, just now getting to their feet, and landed surprisingly elegantly  
>"Eenie, meenie, miney, you."<p>

With that, Epidemon grabbed the youngest of their number by the back of his sweatshirt, digging claws into the hood. Gripping right, Toby barely even had the chance to cry out before Epidemon darted away with boy in tow, and darted away. The digimon cast one look over his shoulder, and said:  
>"Don't worry, I won't do anything. I just wanna <em>talk<em>."

And like that, he bounded up - still gripping Toby, though now by the arm - up on top of one of the shorter buildings.

"We have to follow him," Emily said immediately, clenching her fists tight. Lammon didn't need to be told; before the girl even finished speaking the little sheep had already begun to bound in the direction the Mega had gone. She went without a word, hooves pounding on the metal at a surprisingly fast pace.

A most rudimentary plan was forming in WarTriassimon's head. "We'll hold the Machinedramon here," he said quickly, glancing to Faris, Emily, and Luke, with their respective partners. "You three. Follow Lammon, find Epidemon." There was a pause, and the dinosaur closed his eyes before adding:  
>"<em>Rip his head off.<em>"  
>That bit sounded much more like Julian than the saurian's voice had the other times he had spoken. <em>How curious.<em>

Faris nodded and threw a salute before picking Delfinimon into his arms. Sampamon was lifted back onto Luke's shoulders, and Kamomon kicked into the air to fly a bit above, and then the trio followed the sheep before she left sight. (As they took off, Faris threw one last look over his shoulder at the digimon half-formed by his elder brother, but said nothing.)

* * *

><p>When Epidemon came to a stop, it was on top of a building, not a huge distance away from where he left the group with (what could safely assumed to be) his metal minion to fend off. Strained ears could pick up the sounds of the scuffle, the blasts and the called attacks.<p>

"Wh-what are you trying to do?" Toby stammered, trying _very_ hard to act like he wasn't a) scared, b) confused, c) worried, or d) all of the above. Try as he might, his voice and face betrayed him. Epidemon had his back turned to the human boy, looking out over the city they stood mostly above. With its inhabitants evacuated, there were precious few lights flickering to life as the sun went down, and the factories still trickling smoke began to still, making the environment quiet, dark, and clear.

"I'm not _trying_ to do anything," Epidemon said, turning on the boy. "I'm here to _help_ you, after all. You know so little of what you're getting into and screwing up. And out of all of your little party, I think you're going to be the one who might actually be willing to listen to me."

Toby frowned, furrowing his brow; he was separated from the group, his partner, and any real safety net. He reminded himself, deep in his mind, that the Reapers would not kill them- a small comfort. So... what other option did he have but to listen? He couldn't _run_, not from the top of a building.  
>Epidemon's scrutinizing gaze was on the boy as he thought, and after a heavy silence, the Mega continued talking:<br>"I would make a remark about having a 'captive audience', but I think it would be lost on you. Puns."

"I'm not stupid," Toby mumbled, so quiet it was clearly not meant to be heard and so quick it seemed like a reflex.

Epidemon seemed like if he had a mobile face he would have quirked an eyebrow in mild amusement, but otherwise gave no respect. "I know what you expect me to do. You're the holder of _Trust_, aren't you?" Epidemon knew the answer, but he waited for a nod regardless. So what you expect me to do is this: try and earn your trust, win you over- or some total syrupy _crap_ like that." He snorted. "Believe me, I'd see that coming a mile away, too. That's no fun for me."

Call Toby crazy, but he didn't exactly take comfort in the Reaper's amusement. Still, he kept his mouth shut.

"So, lemme ask you something, kid," Epidemon said after another heavy silence. "Why are you and your little..." Hand gesture. "Associates. Pushing on. It'd be _exponentially_ easier for you, for me, for all of us, if you'd just give in. You don't understand what you're gettin' into. Who you're listening to."

Perhaps if any of the others were here, they'd have a snappy comeback, a way to shut the digimon down in his tracks. Maybe even if Toby had Lammon at his side, he'd feel confident enough to have an answer of his own. But that wasn't so. He was no strategist; all he could think to do was play along. Toby looked up at Epidemon, the spindly form towering over him, and thought for a moment.

"Because," he said, slowly, "because... it's not just here that's at stake, isn't it? I- I mean, the real world's involved with this, too. So... even if we could turn our backs on... I mean..." He was a bit flustered, his thoughts going faster than his mouth. "Even if we didn't have friends here, now, we couldn't just walk away."

"Is that what you've been told." It wasn't a question, it was more of a flat, vaguely curious observation. "Cute."

Toby frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'll let you puzzle that out on your own. After all, you said you're not stupid," Epidemon replied, folding his arms. "Do you want to know a bit of history?"

The boy did not respond, and the Mega clearly took this as an affirmative.

"My... associates-slash-coworkers. ... really, _associate-slash-coworker_, since your friends went and murdered one - and I? We're not the first Reapers. Call us replacements, I call it _2-point-0._ When Lord Era first came through to this world, he recruited some digimon to be his right-hand goons. Three of them, same as us. I remember them, too. I wasn't part of Era's goon brigade yet, no, but I saw them around. Pretty vicious bunch, they were. But some years later, the unexpected up and happened. The Reapers betrayed him. They ran off, split up, went into hiding. Began to serve the Sovereigns. He recruited us. Primary objective was to hunt them down and kill them. That's taken a bit of a backseat ever since you and the rest of the brat brigade have started running around - had the chance, decided not to because Cujo wasn't around and I didn't feel like lugging the egg around - but that's beside the point."

Toby furrowed his brow as Epidemon paused, then continued.

"The ex-Reapers went from goons to Lord Era - a guaranteed victory - to goons for a bunch of giant stupid animals with pipe dreams and plans. Not an improvement, if you ask me, but you're probably not asking me. Your loss. The leader, well, word is he went to the Sovereigns himself. Risked becoming assimilated into the tree to see them himself, throw himself at their whims. When the big stupid beasts decided to enact their last-ditch effort to save themselves, they decided to let him make their special digimon projects his charges." Epidemon chuckled as the fact of the matter quite clearly sunk in to the young boy's head.  
>"I can hear it now: <em>But how could that make any sense?<em>" (He affected a very sappy, feminine, mocking tone here.) "Frankly, it doesn't. Lord Era does not accept those who can't prove themselves loyal to the core as Reapers. I could get into the details, but I'll spare you, it's not particularly entertaining. The beasts trust even less than Era does, if that's possible. You're running around on the directions of a loony who can lie and deceive better than any digimon, alive or dead."

The boy pondered for a moment, face buried in his hood. "But... but it doesn't make sense if you're telling me this. If anyone has reason to lie, it's... well, you." He spoke slowly, choosing each word one at a time.

Epidemon snickered. "Well, come on. Have some _faith_ in your gracious host. I've got nothing to lose at this point. We're all dead data once Lord Era wins, anyway, so I may as well have some yuks while I can, and it turns out the truth is a lot more entertaining than anything I could be bothered to make up." He folded his arms, looking out over the city.  
>"Don't take what I'm saying as some half-baked bid to get you and your pals to join up with Era, though again you probably <em>should<em> if you don't fancy a swift and immediate death the second you stop being under protection. Your digimon are dead either way, but you'd do good to save yourselves at least. ... I'm getting off-topic again, aren't I?"

In the back of his head, Toby wasn't all-listening to the words the digimon was saying. He was rolling over in his head what had already been said, trying to determine the truth value of it. The problem was, he couldn't think of anything off the top of his head that really contradicted it- but not a lot that really confirmed it, either.

"_Everything_ you know about Era is coming from those who were loyal to him. The purple lunatic you take orders from, the brat who used to be a valued general to us, and now, well, me. Be a bit more selective about who you trust."

Toby breathed out, lost in thought. He looked up at Epidemon, trying to read the immobile metal mask for any signs of deceit. "So... uhm... why are you telling _me_, then? If you're... um, not going to try and... convince me, I guess?" He shook his head. Words were not his forte. "I mean why me instead of any of the others."

Epidemon fixed him with a blank stare, then laughed. "Because you're the only one who can't reach Mega yet, aren't you? Well, that and Forbidramon - or, _he who used to be Forbidramon_, guess that's a bit of a sore spot - but _he_ already knew, and he's not shared that with you, sooo..." Toby looked slightly taken aback, surprised; Epidemon chuckled. "Why, there's a _lot_ you're not being told, isn't there?" The tone to his voice indicated he downright relished the idea. "You'll tell _them_ what I'm telling _you_, even if it's just to try and discredit it. You're not going to be able to kick my tail, and you're going to spill the beans. Some things in life are certainties!"  
>A pause as Epidemon looked down to the street, a sidelong glance down. "Oh, look. Your friends are coming."<p>

And indeed they were; down on the street, led by Lammon, were the three humans and their respective partners who had been sent off to hunt the Mega down. Dark as it was, and subtle as he was in the dark, it didn't seem that they took notice of the Mega atop the building.

"Do you want to see if they notice?" Epidemon said, quiet and calm, before grabbing Toby by the arm once more, and this time holding him out over the side of the building.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Toby blurted out, looking up frantically at the Mega. Below them, the other still hadn't seen them.

"I did say 'those who _were_ loyal to him'. Past tense. I said what I meant. I'm going to die whether or not Era wins, kid," Epidemon responded, casually loosening his grip just slightly to watch the boy flail madly, before tightening it again. "Though mark my words- he will win. Even if, say, you die, and that ruins his plan for now, he'll just find another way. He'll win. So it's no matter of mine, really, whether Era wins or not. May as well get my yuks while I can. If I can screw up everyone's day in one fell swoop, then that's great in my book."  
>He was just so very casual as he spoke.<p>

"And besides that, don't you expect your partner will _save_ you? Come on. Have some faith."

"Don't!" Toby yelped, reflexively, as Epidemon once again tauntingly loosened his grip, almost dropping the boy before grabbing him, just narrowly, by the cuff of his hoodie.

"This is fun!" Epidemon chuckled, before he turned his gaze down to those walking below. As he did, Lammon's nose twitched and she looked up, stopping- just in time to see Epidemon as he gave his greeting. "Welcome, lady and gentlemen!" the digimon yelled, his voice almost a caw, and all those down below on the street immediately looked up. "Welcome to the most entertaining thing I've done in months!"

Perhaps understandably, they were a bit taken aback at the fact that the Mega was currently quite literally hanging the youngest of their number over their heads.

"Don't assume he won't hurt him," Luke said quickly, quietly. "... Epidemon has a screw or fifteen loose," he added, more under his breath than anything, and only Sampamon heard it in enough clarity to make out the words.

"Duly noted," Kamomon replied, barely moving his mouth as he landed astride where Emily stopped.

"And I'm assuming if we told bird-face to let shorty go, he'd take it literally," added Faris, frowning.

"Direct method, then, yeom?"

"You know it." Faris and Emily both unclipped their D-GEARs (Luke chose to stay a bit back, though Sampamon slithered to the ground - in case she was needed - and D-GEAR gripped in his hand). But before anyone could make a move to digivolve, they heard Epidemon chuckle.

"It's cute that you think you're going to be able to do anything. I'm done talking, so you can have him back. Catch," the Mega remarked coolly, before he opened his hand and let Toby drop.

The boy had barely the time to yelp, but the second the hand left his wrist, clipped to his shorts, his D-GEAR began to glow.

In a flash, Lammon leapt forward, making no comment or remark. Instead, she merely threw herself into Toby's path before she was bathed in light.

"Lammon, kickstart digivolve to... Ariamon!"  
>Moving graceful, she leapt into the air in enough time - barely enough - to catch her partner on her back, cushioning the fall. "Are you hurt?" were the first words out of the sheep's mouth, craning her neck to look at the boy she called partner.<p>

"I'm... fine," Toby mumbled, gripping his hands into the wool on her back; she wasted no time in darting out of the way, as she knew that very soon, there was _not_ going to be a dearth of room in which to maneuver.

"Let's trash this loser," Faris mumbled, holding out his D-GEAR. Emily followed suit, and within seconds both pairs of human and digimon were bathed in light.

"Delfinimon, genesis digivolve to... Galeomon!"

"Kamomon, genesis digivolve to... Rocmon!"

The bird took off immediately into the air, as the street - while wide - was not bound to be comfortable for a beast of his size for terribly long. Galeomon, comparable in size to the average school bus, fit much more comfortably, and so turned to Toby, Ariamon, Luke, and Sampamon.  
>"Get somewhere safe- try to report back to the others, yeom. We'll keep him occupied here."<p>

That was all she said before she launched herself, all powerful legs and claws, into the side of the building next to the one Epidemon stood on, clawing her way up on pipes and, failing that, simply smashing her claws into the metal. (There was certainly a lot of dented metal today.)  
>Worryingly, Epidemon stood his ground, looking down and waiting for the shark- and occasionally looking over to those not currently in Mega form, gaze impassive.<p>

"C'mon, I guess," Luke said, casting one look up at Epidemon and frowning, before he began walking. Sampamon, still on the ground, slithered smoothly after him, and Ariamon followed, though Toby kept his neck craned to look over his shoulder at the Mega atop the roof- and the tremendous bird rising up above, and the shark clambering her way up.

They slunk down an alleyway. In the background, they could hear the call of attacks:  
>"<strong>Electro Break<strong>!"  
>"<strong>Bitter Hailstorm<strong>!"

With one last glance over his shoulder, Toby could see what was happening- the two giant digimon weren't even leaving a scratch on the plague doctor. In fact, Epidemon effortlessly backflipped, his coat fluttering behind him. As he drifted back down to the next building over, he called an attack.  
>"<strong>Pandemic<strong>!"  
>With that, he threw open his arms, and a flurry of smoky black shapes - rats - scurried out from within his coat, dashing at the pair. Rocmon quickly soared out of the way and Galeomon dropped to the ground with a crash, but Epidemon still kept his cool completely effortlessly.<br>In other words, not-so-hot. What Epidemon had told Toby was still running laps in his head, turning itself around and on constant replay. (That, and the sick feeling of being suspended by an arm.)

"What's going on?" Ariamon's voice snapped Toby out of his thoughts, as she was pulling to a stop- as Luke, in front of her, had stopped in turn.

"Toby's got something on his mind," Luke said, softly, as he turned around. The younger of the boys was a mite taken aback. Slowly, but surely, he climbed off of Ariamon's back and nodded once.

"Y-yeah. Kinda. How'd you tell?"

"He's got a sense for it," Sampamon replied, smiling faintly.

"... well, more that he was just stuck alone with Epidemon than anything," Luke mumbled, looking at Sampamon and rubbing the back of his head. "But I get the feeling you kinda... wanted to stay and help. That's all." He was getting more abashed by the moment.

Toby paused, watching while Ariamon reverted to her Lammon form, then proceeded to nuzzle her nose against Toby's hand. "Well... yeah. I guess." Luke said nothing, merely looked at the other human, as though granting him the space to speak if he so choose.  
>After a moment, Toby spoke- more to himself, or to Lammon, than to Luke, but even so, it came about to be heard by the other boy.<br>"Well... I d-donno. It feels like... like, I don't think it's on anyone else's fault? But... d'you think that maybe... I guess, it's because Lammon's not a fighter, which I guess is good because I don't like to fight either, but... do you think they'd act like I could help more if I acted like I could?"

Luke blinked a couple times, then rubbed the back of his head in thought. "You're... hmm. You're worried that they don't take you seriously because you don't think you take yourself seriously?"

"... that's a lot nicer way to put it, than I did," Toby mumbled, his words getting a bit jumbled in the mumble.

Sampamon nodded her head, while Luke picked her up to once more place her in her usual position around his shoulders.  
>"The way we act affects the way others see us," Luke said, thoughtful, "and we see ourselves by the way others react to us, and that's reflected in how we act. So, it's plausible. Changing one thing could lead to a chain reaction in the rest."<p>

Toby nodded, looking over his shoulder. "I guess."

"So... I donno. I'm bad at motivational speeches, but, do what you think you've gotta do, okay?" Luke said with a shrug of one snake-laden shoulder, placing a hand on the side of his partner's head.

"I... yeah. Thanks," Toby said, smiling faintly.

"No problem," Luke replied, turning to leave and giving a half-wave to the younger boy. He breathed a sigh as, out of the corner of his eye, he watched Toby, in turn, turn around to look back where the other two were trying to fight Epidemon. It was interesting, Luke discovered, to have someone actually ask him for advice, even as ambiguous as it was.  
>Despite the relatively short time the entire group had been together, the little ragtag group of monsters and kids was starting to feel more like a proper family than anything he had really known up until now.<p>

"C'mon," Luke mumbled absentmindedly.

"Need I remind you that I am on your shoulders, not particularly inclined to go anywhere without you," the snake replied, smirking in good nature.

"Shush."

And with that, Luke, with Sampamon in tow, took off at a light jog back towards the site of Machinedramon, leaving Toby standing alone in the alley.

Lammon looked up at Toby, not saying anything, as he took a deep breath and began to walk back towards the site of the scuffle with Epidemon. After a moment, the lamb spoke up. "It doesn't bother you when I'm concerned, does it?"

"A-ah! No," Toby said, a bit half-yelped. He rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "No. It's okay. I just... I donno. I guess I need to..." he paused, tugging at his sleeves a bit. "I mean... you think I can do this, right?"

"Of course." Pause. "I don't think you've noticed, but you've grown up a lot since you got here. You all have. We're... thankful. That all of you arrived. None of us could do this - digivolve, fight, protect - if you didn't lend us your strength. At the start, it seemed like you were being thrown into something that none of you understood. But even so, you've stayed, helping us protect something that... means quite a lot to us."

"Well... uhm... if you don't... well, mind," Toby said, putting both hands behind his head. "You guys... uhm, well, I can only speak for me, but, you guys mean a lot to us, too. To me. Nobody's ever really... believed in me, b'fore. Like, my mom and dad always kinda treated me like I was too... I d-donno. Sick. Small. To do anything? So... it kinda... felt like I was... missing something. Before we came here."

"I know the feeling," Lammon replied, closing her eyes and smiling. She nudged her nose into her partner's hand, and Toby smiled sheepishly.  
>"Shall we?" the sheep said, head still placed in her partner's hand.<p>

"... yeah. Yeah," Toby said, closing his eyes as well.

They could hardly say it was unexpected when Toby's D-GEAR began to glow bright white, the light creeping, warm, from the device to engulf the pair of partners.

_**True warrior of the Virtue of Trust; this is your genesis.**_

In synchronization, two pairs of eyes opened up, blazing violet and flickering like starlight. The glow was quick to cover both bodies - as, of course, they were the smallest pair of the bunch, the sheep nearly but not quite matching the boy for size. It was blinding, especially in the dark as the sun's last rays crept away below the horizon, shining like a beacon in the dusk, as the light expanded from their bodies to form a shell of light- paradoxically twinkling like a star and swirling like clouds, a flowing abstract form tinged with the same violet that overtook their eyes just moments before.

"Lammon, genesis digivolve to..."

It was warm and cool all at once, the sensations mixing and playing against each other as their bodies combined. The faint sound of something undefinable, harmonizing with the sound of rushing data, sang in the background - almost like music, unlike anything they had ever heard and too faint to make out. The shape within the light became humanoid, tall and slender. Her head remained that of a sheep, and from head to toe was the dark skin and thin hair, all black as pitch, as though all the wool had been shorn away. The only markings to be seen were on her cheeks, triangular markings under the eyes that faded purple to pink.  
>Long hair - though it was hard to tell where the smoke began and the hair ended, for it was both in its entirety - framed her face, and a long ponytail - almost as long as she was tall - was clasped with a metal ring, leaving the smoky end to fade into the air. A long tail, of the same smoky substance, curled freely from below her attire, again almost as long as she was tall.<p>

Her attire was simple enough; a blue top, sleeveless and cut at a slanted angle from mid-abdomen down to her hip. Around her waist she wore a slitted skirt, purple-pink in shade and accented with white, fastened with a black belt adorned with silver rings. What might be called black shorts were worn under said skirt, though most of her legs were covered by the high blue boots she wore; adorned, again, with silver rings, at the cuffs and the buckles, with some amount of heel (though not to excess). Long blue gloves, similarly fastened with rings of silver, covered most of her arms, accompanied by thinner silver rings that floated freely around her upper arms.

Four blue orbs floated behind her back, and betwixt them were two semi-transparent wings, floating unattached to her body. In her hands she gripped a staff, silver and black, and topped with a golden fixture. This was the symbol of their Virtue- a curved S-like shape, with two golden orbs floating within the curves of the shape, accented by a golden ring at the bottom of the pole.

She brandished this weapon gracefully - despite the fact that her eyes remained closed this entire time, and seemed intent on their continuing to be so - slashing the golden end down through the light that encased her and causing it to disperse into motes of light.

"**MagnaAriamon**!"

"Wow," Toby - from within MagnaAriamon's core - murmured, breathing deep. Though he could feel that MagnaAriamon's eyes were closed, there was no question of what was around them- he, she, they, could sense what was around them. Not see, no, but feel.

_I could tell you how this power is yours as much as it is mine,_ MagnaAriamon's voice said, _but I believe that is not the matter of utmost importance at this moment._

"Hahah... no, I guess not."

_Shall we?_ MagnaAriamon echoed her words from mere moments ago, but she did not need wait. Running like she was walking on air, she darted forward.  
>Ahead, Epidemon seemed to be enjoying himself a tad too much. He flitted from building to building, far too small for either of the larger, bulkier digimon to follow him gracefully.<br>He leapt backwards as Galeomon nearly crashed into the side of a building, holding his hands above his head. "**Fall of Worlds**!" Epidemon cawed. In the space between them, a orb began to gather- gunky and black, pulsating as though it were alive. It grew rapidly, gathering matter from who-knew-where, until it was tremendous.  
>While Galeomon tried to gather herself and claw her way back up the building towards the plague doctor, and Rocmon began to swoop in for an attack, Epidemon chuckled. He brought his hands apart, and the orb split in two. In rapid succession, he threw one of the orbs at the bird and one at the shark.<p>

The orbs of gunk burst on contact with both of digimon's faces, and the effect was immediate. Galeomon roared, and tried to shake it off, but the gunk held fast. Similarly, Rocmon keened loudly, rearing his head back and thrashing. Whatever the gunk was, as it seeped in, it caused him to convulse, and the bird dropped out of hte sky and crashed - none too gracefully - into the metal street.

Epidemon turned them, and looked at the newest Mega, who stood unannounced in the mouth of the alley. "Awesome. Saves me time, if you're in one form. Two birds with one stone! **Fall of Worlds**!"

MagnaAriamon merely stood as the orb of gunk formed once more, and Epidemon quickly hurled it at her- but she did not flinch. Instead, she merely held up her staff in one hand and traced a circle in the air around herself. Where the tip of her staff traced in the air, a golden line appeared.  
>"<strong>Shining Break<strong>!"

Moments before the plague doctor's attack hit her, the circle expanded into a translucent golden shield of light. The gunk did not disperse over the shield- it simply disintigrated, vanishing into thin air. The shield vanished after it absorbed the attack, but MagnaAriamon slashed her weapon through the air and turned her head up towards Epidemon. (The word 'look' was not used because, once more - her eyes remained closed.)

"I am the healing light to your vile sickness," the humanoid sheep said, her voice calm and even. "I am no warrior, but when facing corruption, even the warrior, be he of darkness, will kneel to the light."

"Nice speech. Too bad I don't got one in return! **Bad Air**!" Epidemon cried, holding his hands in front of him and summoning a great black cloud- though it was a cloud, it had a solid form, and surged forard the Virtue Warrior of Trust.

"**Radiant Lance**!" MagnaAriamon cried, her staff beginning to glow bright white. She threw it, then, straight through the cloud, absorbing it harmlessly, before it hit its true mark- impacting Epidemon, causing the Mega to keel backwards, grabbing at the point of impact as the staff of light disappeared.

MagnaAriamon twisted her wrist, and her polearm was once more in her hand. It was at this point that Galeomon lifted her head off of the ground, trying to see through the gunk still covering her face.

"Hey! Lammon, that you, yeom?" she growled out, before snarling in pain as the black substance got into her eyes. As it sunk in, it began to make every ounce of her being began to sting and burn- and Faris felt every bit of it from within the digimon's core.

"A little help would be greatly appreciated, lass. ... lad. Both," Rocmon rumbled, unable to stop his body from jerking erratically.

"But that'd be no fun!" Epidemon sneered, and suddenly threw himself from the building he was perched on, and once more his coat fluttered in the air. "**Pandemic**!"

From his coat rushed forth a swarm of smoky black rats, their eyes flashing yellow as they swarmed not just MagnaAriamon, but all three of the Mega digimon there on the ground.  
>Rocmon keened, forcing himself - albeit a bit clumsily - to his feet. "<strong>Bitter Hailstorm<strong>!" he keened, opening his wings wide just long enough to fire a spray of dagger-like ice at Epidemon before he began to convulse once more, falling to the ground. The ice, when it touched any of the rats on the ground, caused them to explode into smoke.

Galeomon responded much the same way, supporting herself on a building before she cried out: "**Shark Attack**!" Around her formed a legion of glowing-white sharks to combat the smoky rats attempting to sink into her flesh, the contact between the two ephemeral animals cancelling eachother out.

MagnaAriamon, too concerned with what was happening to her allies, forgot that there were some of the rats headed for her, as well; they began to scurry up and burn away at her flesh. She grit her teeth and did not let it affect her too deeply, however, as Epidemon landed straight in front of her. She wouldn't waste her chance to attack; she threw herself forward, and her body began to glow bright, destroying the spectral rats in an instant.  
>"<strong>Cleansing Light<strong>!" she called, and she ran straight into Epidemon. Or, perhaps, not _into_- more through. By the time she reached the plague doctor, her body was incorporeal, and she passed straight through him. What did not pass, however, was the light from her body. It seeped into the bird-faced digimon's body, and he snarled with pain.

Before MagnaAriamon could turn around, Epidemon did- and he held out hands, glowing purple and black, and smashed them into MagnaAriamon's back. "**Contagion**!" he hissed, and the glow seeped from his hands into her body.  
>MagnaAriamon cried out with pain and doubled over before falling to her knees, kneeling on the ground.<p>

"There's no digimon alive that gets a hit on me and lives to tell about it. I got a reputation to keep up, you know, nothing personal. Except it is," Epidemon mused, growling low as he stepped forward, lifting a foot to place on MagnaAriamon's back to push her down- and then-

"**Blade Tornado**!" Galeomon's voice snarled, and she rushed forward, her arm-guards blazing white with energy before she brought one back in a powerful slash to Epidemon's back, sending the plague doctor tumbling head over heels away from the humanoid sheep.

"Thank you," MagnaAriamon choked out as the tremendous shark - still wavering on her feet, still with black gunk covering her face and burning at her flesh - helped her comrade stand up.

"It's no problem, yeom," Galeomon replied, then growled low. Epidemon snarled, beginning to rush at the pair - but it was then that Rocmon let out a loud cry, forcing himself to his feet and into the air.

"**Rolling Fog**!" the avian cried, flapping his wings once, and then the street was covered in a dense fog- and Epidemon cawed with pain, stopped in his tracks. "This way, lassies!" Rocmon said as quietly as he could muster for his giant size, and Galeomon and MagnaAriamon hurried in his direction.

"Thank you, once more," MagnaAriamon said, bowing her head.

"We're teammates, it's what we're supposed to do, yeom," Galeomon said, grinning, then cringing. "But if you'd like to thank us, you could see if your light-magic-woo-woo powers can do anything about this junk on our faces, yeom."

MagnaAriamon nodded her head, and flexed her hands. "If my shield could disintegrate the attack, I might be able to get rid of it, yes." As quickly as she could - while she still had the fog for cover - she focused her energy into her hands. Galeomon bowed her head to test the theory, allowing MagnaAriamon to place her hands thereupon; as they hoped, the light counteracted the black toxic gunk and while the light drained from her hands, it also caused the diseased goo to disintegrate as well.  
>By the time Rocmon bowed his head to get the same treatment, the fog around them was beginning to disperse, and the dark shape of Epidemon stalking forward could be seen through it.<p>

"I'll hold him off. You heal birdy-boy, yeom," Galeomon said, rearing down onto all fours. When MagnaAriamon nodded, the shark leapt forward. "**Crashing Wave**!" she cried, and became surrounded by a swirling orb of wild water. She crashed into Epidemon, and threw the doctor backwards once more. He wasn't much for taking hits, it seemed...

MagnaAriamon once again summoned the light to her hands, removing the remnants of Epidemon's attack from her avian ally's face. He shook his head a few times, and though the sting remained, it ebbed by the moment. "Thanks plenty," he rumbled. "I don't want to see what would have happened if we hadn't gotten rid of that."

The sheep nodded, but she turned. "Right now, we have more pressing matters at hand."

"Aye."

The fog was now cleared away all but entirely, and Epidemon had ceased relying on attacks- he simply leapt and delivered a kick to the back of Galeomon's head, and that was more than enough incentive for sheep and bird to get a move on.  
>"<strong>Contagion<strong>!" the plague doctor growled, placing his hands into Galeomon and letting the aura from his hands seep in.

"Hey, rust bucket!" Rocmon cawed as he leapt into the air, but MagnaAriamon was quicker- but it was still vital that Epidemon turned to look.

"**Piercing Stare**!" the sheep cried, opening her eyes for the first time- her eyes were a shining, blinding white, and the magic of sorts behind them was unmistakable but indescribable- simply gazing into them made Epidemon freeze in his tracks, frozen by some strange power.

She stepped forward, closing the distance between herself and the Reaper quickly, and her eyes closed once more. "Kneel to the light, agent of corruption," she said, a vague echo of her previous words to the Epidemon. Epidemon began to move again, the attack wearing off, but she had more time than she needed. MagnaAriamon drew her staff back, and it began to glow white.  
>"<strong>Radiant Lance<strong>!"  
>Instead of throwing it, this time she merely struck out at the reaper- and struck true. When the light from her staff faded, the light from Epidemon going up in data just began to glow.<p>

"You can defeat me," he taunted, sounding as happy as anything, "but it won't change anything."

And those were Epidemon's last words before a beam of light shot into the air, and all that was left was an egg, black and speckled purple.

MagnaAriamon knelt down and picked the digitama into one hand. "Two have fallen, and only one more of the reapers remains," she remarked to herself more than anything. Galeomon shook her head to shake away the aches, and Rocmon landed atop one of the shorter buildings nearby, and let out a contented keen.

It was at this moment that, from the direction that the other half of the team had been, they came. Kisekimon led the group, followed by ImperialBaghamon and WarTriassimon, with Luke riding on the back of HebiDramon to back them up.  
>Galeomon, Rocmon, and MagnaAriamon were about to give greeting when they noticed that their allies were joined by three more than was with their party prior.<p>

First of the three was a familiar shape- Deekamon, his fabric form unmistakable. The other two were less familiar.  
>Flanking on Deekamon's left side was a monkey; he was human-sized, though with the hunched-over way he stood he was probably taller than the general human being. His fur was slate-blue, the skin on his face and belly snow-white, and his eyes were a clear blue with red markings beneath. A braid, fastened with a silver ring, framed either side his face, as did low-set rounded ears. A ruff of lighter-blue fur was around his neck, and lower around his abdomen, a strap held a gigantic oblong mask to his back, a dark navy shade decorated in red and silver. His legs below the knee were a darker shade than the rest of his body, edged at the knee with a ruff of lighter-blue fur. His feet were bare, and his hands - in fact, much of his forearms - were covered with tremendous brown leather gloves, while a leather brown belt sat around his waist. On his legs, his face, his arms - red markings stood out against the rest of his colours. His tail whipped behind him, fluidly moving, as he bowed his head to the three who had fought Epidemon.<p>

On Deekamon's right, a digimon that reached nearly nine or ten feet tall stood. He was a dinosaur or a dragon, his scales jet black. Armor in shades of black, silver, and yellow adorned much of his body, covering the majority of his skin. A helmet over his face granted him horns and short, yellow-striped antlers; bracers, fastened by what looked like yellow tubing, were around his shins, above his (quite large, and quite-large-clawed) feet. A shock of golden hair stuck out from under and behind his helmet, a shade that matched his yellow eyes. On his back he wore what looked like a shield that was split in two halves, almost like it was hinged; on his arms were gauntlets, tremendous and terrifying with wickedly-sharp silver claws as long as his upper arms.  
>He, too, bowed his head in greeting.<p>

"I can only assume that you are Lammon and Toby," ImperialBaghamon said, looking to MagnaAriamon; she nodded her head, and the four-armed lion-man smiled. "Excellent."

"You manage Epidemon?" WarTriassimon asked; Galeomon chuckled.

"And then some, yeom."

"You take care of Machinedramon?" Rocmon questioned, fluffing up his feathers.

"We were having a bit of trouble, admittedly," Kisekimon said, shrugging, "but then we got some... help." He looked to Deekamon and the two new digimon.

Deekamon laughed. "You are doing far better than I could have even dreamed, children!"  
>MagnaAriamon did not know why she felt Toby become uncomfortable within her core, but did not question it.<br>"I would like you to meet some very old friends of mine," Deekamon said. He gestured to the monkey. "Shamon - you knew him by the names of Rafikmon and Tumbilimon." He gestured then to the black dinosaur. "And BlackWarGreymon- BlackAgumon, the last you saw him. Call them old allies."

"Machinedramon is no laughing matter," Shamon said, closing his eyes- but then he smiled.

"But BlackWarGreymon sliced that sucker up!" Kisekimon cheered, then coughed and tried to re-gain his composure.

"Sliced up, you say?" MagnaAriamon said, a smile playing at her lips.

BlackWarGreymon chuckled, his voice a low rumble. "Like an onion."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Before you ask: yes, that was a reference to Adventure. ;)_


	41. Chapter 41: Blue

_A/N: Ladies and gentlemen, this is - at least the first half of this chapter - is the very first thing I knew I'd write when I started this project. It is absolutely surreal to finally be releasing it._

* * *

><p>Many years ago, far before this story of the seven Virtue Warriors of the Digital World took place - before, in fact, these children were even born- there was a boy in the real world, as there are many. He was by most means an entirely average boy, going by the name of Joshua Amsel. By no means was Joshua a popular child; he simply did not get along with others of his own age. When he attempted to, they would taunt and tease him mercilessly; he was, by all definitions, a nerd. He forewent friends for his computer, for video games, for himself.<p>

And so what happened next seemed only natural. When he was around the age of thirteen, he was - as he ever was - tapping away at his computer.

"And... there," he mumbled, pressing down the 'enter' key on the computer before him. He had lost himself in the program he was tapping out. If video games, even rudimentary ones, could create some form of artificial intelligence, so could he. If he was allowing himself to feel a bit full of himself, he'd say he could do it better, but he wouldn't get ahead of himself.

Joshua breathed out, leaning back in his chair and looking out the window. Beyond the houses in the suburban sprawl, the sun was beginning to peek its first rays over the roofs.  
>And lo, another all-nighter had been held.<p>

This was Josh's unsurprised face.

He sighed, cleaning his glasses on his shirt. He had gone this far; he may as well give it a test-run. Hand on the mouse, he double-clicked the icon that lay in the mess of files on his computer desktop. .  
>The little window popped to life. In the corner, a sprite- black and white and rudimentary, but it was only a placeholder for now - lay, a little 'z' drifting above its head; it was sleeping.<br>Well, it was working so far.

Josh flexed his fingers, and tapped out a word into the input:  
><em>Hello.<em>

The moment he tapped the enter key, little sprite stirred to life - as it was programmed to do - and sat up.

Another word was fed, by the computer, back into the display window, the font blue in colour:  
><em>Hello!<em>

A smile pulled at Josh's mouth, and he couldn't help but chuckle as another message popped up:  
><em>What's your name?<em>

_My name is Joshua_, he typed back, before adding a second message:  
><em>Who are you?<em>

_My name is Blue. It's nice to meet you, Joshua!_

It was working as expected- it had darn well better, he had spent hours adding up to days on this, spread out over weeks, troubleshooting and making sure every inch of the coding checked out.  
>By the time his father walked in to try and wake his son up later that morning, Joshua was slumped down in the chair, glasses hanging off of one ear, and on the screen was the little faux-chat window filled up with text, the little black sprite in the window once more with a little Z floating above its head.<p>

* * *

><p>Bit by bit, Joshua continued to tinker with the program; adding to it, expanding the conditions it could react to. Bit by bit, the little AI program became more and more advanced. He improved the sprites; from a black blob, its shape barely distinguishable, it gained colour and form. True, it was barely more than a little vaguely-beasty thing, white and blue in colour, but it was more than it used to be.<p>

In addition to its appearance growing more advanced, so did its behavior- beyond what Joshua expected of it. It was mid-November, and he was back in school again; he had less time to tinker with the program, but when he had the time, it was his first priority. It was becoming more of a friend than anyone at school, despite the fact that it was nothing but a little program.

_Hello again, Joshua!_

Hello.

Is something wrong?

How on earth could you tell?

You programmed me; I know you better than anyone. Your greeting was different. You haven't greeted me like that since I was activated.

Josh raised an eyebrow, setting his elbows on the computer desk and threading his fingers together in front of his mouth. This wasn't surprising; he had been tweaking it so it would recognize patterns in his behavior. It was just getting _very good_ at it. He hadn't had a particularly good day; without getting into the specifics, let it be known that kids were cruel. As they were the day before, and the month before, and as they would continue tot be in the days and months to come.  
>He paused before typing a reaction, but before he even touched the keyboard, another line of blue text popped up on-screen.<p>

_Are you okay, Josh?_

The little sprite bounced up and down rhythmically on its feet, a worried expression on its tiny pixellated face.  
>Josh racked his brain trying to remember when he had added that to its bank of reactions. He paused, frowned, and spoke aloud:<br>"I don't remember programming Blue for this..."

And then words popped up on the screen again:  
><em>You didn't.<em>

Josh froze, squinting at his computer screen. The first thought that ran through his head was, _we're not getting into some cheap B-movie science crap, are we?_, but he shook it out of his head. Did it make sense? No, of course not. But... at this point, he wasn't going to try and puzzle it out. Not yet. He assumed it was simply learning more than he realized it was. Instead, he merely typed back:

_In that case... no, today kind of blew._

* * *

><p>And for months, Josh talked with Blue; the little program became far and away his closest friend- or perhaps even his only friend. It was one year since he activated the program, to the day.<p>

_Happy "birthday", Blue._

_Thanks, Josh. Hey, I have a question._

_What's up?_

_Have you ever thought about the existence of worlds beyond your own?_

Josh paused, leaning back in his seat. He paused for a moment, before writing back:  
><em>Anything's possible, I guess.<em>

_Great._

"What on earth is he-" Josh mumbled, before his screen began glowing a sight brighter than it should have been. From the screen of his computer - not on it, but simply out of it - there formed a small plastic device. Josh was, understandably, a tad bit freaked out. This means he tumbled backwards in his chair, knocking his computer chair and himself to the ground.  
>When the light cut out, the little device dropped from the air and onto Josh's belly, and he quickly scooped it up. It wasn't terribly large; it looked like one of the digital pet toys that he had seen girls wearing on their keychains, but larger- more solidly put together.<p>

Joshua scrambled up, looking at the screen as he pulled his chair back into position. In the text window, blue letters were forming one at a time:  
><em>If you want to see what you've created come to life, simply tell me yes; the device you've been sent will allow you to come. If you do not<em>  
>Joshua didn't even wait for the rest of the sentence; he immediately tapped in:<p>

_Yes._

And then everything went white. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a forest- though it was much like the one that, much later, in another digital reality, seven children would find themselves, it was different in its way, and before him stood a creature.  
>He was stout and white, and looked much like a little dragon; blue hair covered his face and was tied into a ponytail in the back, fastened with a number of green orbs. From under his hair, two short black horns poked, and what seemed to be ears, with black insides, extended from the hair. A dark blue pelt lay around his back from the neck down, covering his hands and dragging behind his feet. His belly, tail, and feet were marked with varying shades of blue. Around his neck was tied a lime-green bandana, and a stripe of the same colour ran across his snout.<p>

And that was how Joshua Amsel met his digimon partner, Lazumon, in the flesh- or, rather, the data.  
>This was not the digital world that the children knew; it was similar, yes, but it was a dimensional hop skip and a jump away. The branches of Yggdrasil connected them, as it does all worlds, but it was like a branch that split in two; a common origin, but not quite the same.<p>

* * *

><p>To fully detail the adventures of Joshua and Lazumon would take much more space than will be granted it. They never belonged to a proper team, but together they vanquished smaller evils, one on one, and grew close as Lazumon grew stronger. Joshua was able to return home with the device that was granted him moments before the two met; he often brought Lazumon back home with him, hidden in his room. The only one who knew of any of this was Brian, his brother; Josh was fairly certain that Brian didn't quite believe him, that he was humoring his little brother, but it didn't matter. He had Lazumon.<p>

But this eventually ended.

Joshua, with time, grew up. Through high school, he returned to Lazumon less often, left the dragon behind in the digital world most of the time when he left; he occasionally tinkered with coding again, but never again accomplished the same success as he did with the program that grew to be Lazumon- at least, not ones that would talk to him the same way had.

And that annoyed the tar out of him.

After all, the question had said that _what he had created_ had come to life.  
>He got that into his head, erroneous as it was, that all what he had seen was his. After all, if Lazumon could grow more than he had expected, the other programs he had tinkered with could do the same, right?<p>

But Joshua grew still more, and entered college, and Lazumon saw less and less of his growing human partner.

In his real world, Josh was entering the field of computer programming; he went to college, got a girlfriend. The program that had been the start of Lazumon lay untouched on his computer; , the file name he could never bring himself to change, lay in a forgotten folder, even as he brought it from computer to computer, every computer he owned.  
>But Lazumon and the digital world the little dragon, so many other programs, inhabited, stayed on his mind. He tried to bring it up to his colleagues, his classmates, his professors, his girlfriend, and each of them derided the idea as crazy.<p>

And he became preoccupied.

It consumed his thoughts; he dropped out of college. When his girlfriend of the time turned out to be pregnant, he left her without a second thought. He spent more and more time trying to pry apart the code of the Blue program, not even facing the dragon in the Digital World- he returned to the program, demanding answers over text. Demanding that the dragon appear for him, so he could show him to his colleagues, his friends, his family.

And Lazumon refused; he couldn't risk the Digital World being found out. He said he loved Josh, but he _couldn't._

And Joshua could not stand that; he determined that Lazumon was a liar, that he was only leading him on all that time, that he was just like the evil digimon they had met and fought, was only using him to

And so he tried to delete the files- any program he had written, any program he assumed had connections to the Digital World he had seen.  
>But he could not delete .<p>

It was not sentiment- Joshua decided that if the little AI would not help him, would not prove he wasn't crazy, he had no use for it. No- it would simply not be deleted. If he tried, the program window would pop up, with Lazumon trying to convince him not to do it.  
>He did not heed it, but it would not delete, no matter what Joshua tried. His isolation and anger slowly pushed him away from reason and sanity.<p>

So he took it into his own hands.

He went into the digital world, but brought his laptop with him; from within, he began to attack. From within, he wrote viruses, corrupted entire areas. It was doubtful he even remembered why he bore such a grudge towards this world; he merely wanted to take it down, claw it down bit by bit if that was what it took.

"Joshua! What are you doing!?" Lazumon cried, watching as the very data of the world around him began to shift and change.

"Getting rid of this. All of this, this childish _crap_," Joshua spat, glaring down at Lazumon. "I couldn't get rid of it from my computer, so I'll get rid of it from within."

Lazumon pleaded and pleaded, but no matter how many cries he made to stop, his partner - his once-partner - did not stop. Location after location, digimon after digimon, all were sacrificed to Joshua's blind rage.

"You were my friend," Lazumon choked out through tears as he stood before Joshua, arms thrown out- he would not let the boy (or rather the man; he was no longer a boy by age, nor was he any longer the boy that Lazumon knew) pass and destroy the forest he was born in- where he had met Joshua so many years ago.

"You're no friend of mine. It's your fault- this is all your fault. You claimed to be my friend, but you- you lying _scum_-" Joshua hissed, and with that...  
>So ended , and so ended Lazumon.<p>

So ended Joshua, for he was no longer that boy in any sense.

But when a digital world - any digital world - is under fire, it will fire right back. It will summon warriors, it will fight back with every byte of data in its being.  
>And so it did.<p>

When he fell, when he was defeated, he was exiled. He had ruined his connection to his home.

When the guardians of that world decided that they needed to get rid of him, they threw him out of their reality, into the branches of Yggdrasil- though they did not know it as such.

Where he landed was another Digital World. It was not wholly dissimilar to the one he had been expelled from; in fact, it was almost disturbingly similar. But it was different; a different layout. Different rulers. Different _rules_. But at heart, it was still the same.

Joshua Amsel was in pain, he was humiliated, and he was bent on _revenge_. His goals were misaimed, but the fire in his heart would not be extinguished. His hatred was for all things digital, especially digimon; they had ruined his life, he reasoned. He had allowed mindless packets of AI data to ruin his life.  
>And he was entirely willing to do what he had to to get back at them.<p>

It vexed him, perpetually, that he could not duplicate his success with creating Lazumon, but he formed a plan. He no longer had his computer, or any computer; he would have to work his way back in, find a way to manipulate this world.  
>He began small, and built his way from nothing. He began to take over parts of this digital world; this world was similar enough to the one he had been in before, after all. He recruited digimon, for even though he hated them he realized he needed to work with them.<br>He would return home, and rip this world apart; if he was right, and he was, destroying this Digital World would have a ripple effect throughout the others. And that was all he needed, after all.

And that is how one Joshua Amsel became Lord Era.

* * *

><p>"Where are you leading us?" Simon asked, holding Efudemon in his arms as they ran. The entire team had degenerated, separated into humans and the digimon's Baby II forms (except, of course, for Luke and his partner- she had devolved from HebiDramon back down to Sampamon, and was in her usual position). BlackWarGreymon and Shamon were flanking behind, while Deekamon led them (the latter of which holding the egg that was once Epidemon); they passed buildings and dove down alleys, as though they were trying to throw off any potential persuers.<p>

"The temple," Deekamon replied, fixed dead ahead as he led the group.

"Javermon will not find it easily- it is safe for now. We have been leading him astray, but it will not last forever. He will only be fogged by frustration for so long," Shamon provided. "There will be peace there, though only for a short time. I expect by morning he will arive."

"We can only hold the line," Deekamon picked up. "But some things and some other things, you know."

Andrea let loose a low "mmm", nodding her head once; in some fashion, the gesture was repeated throughout the group, from nods to verbal assents to simply picking up the pace. Toby was the only one who hesitated, but he went along with the group.

"Something's still on your mind," Luke remarked as they ran, keeping his voice low as he came up alongside Toby. "Sup?"

Toby frowned, looking ahead at Deekamon, then looked to Luke. "How often does Epidemon tell the truth?"

Luke raised his eyebrows, and thought for a moment, to find the appropriate words. "He says what he thinks will get the best reaction. They say truth hurts, and he lived by it. Why?"

Toby frowned again, but nodded. "Oh. ... No reason."  
>He couldn't help but feel a little bit of apprehension. What if what Epidemon said about Deekamon was true? It was a shadow of doubt at the back of his head.<p>

* * *

><p>Javermon breathed out; any sign of Epidemon was gone.<br>"So, it's just me now, then? Fine. _Fine_!" he snarled, dropping to the ground and clenching his fists tight. "I'll take down the Sovereign myself- they were only stealing the glory. Never needed them. I'm better. Faster. Stronger. I'll be just fine." The smile on his face was nasty. "And the moment I'm allowed, I'll _split their skulls_."

* * *

><p>They ran for a good while; it was growing late, and the humans were growing weary, by the time they approached their destination. They pressed on, though, knowing that they couldn't stop now. This time they had to reach Baihumon was borrowed, they knew.<br>When they reached their destination, however, it was not quite what they expected.

Deekamon led them into a building, and down a flight of stairs- down into the basement. It was a long flight of stairs, reaching deeper and deeper down into the ground, spiralling around a columnal structure (and totally devoid of hand-rails). It was dark, and only got darker- Fuwamon got hugged up a bit tighter against Toby's chest, for his fear of the dark apparently survived, even despite spending time as a part of a sheep warrior-priestess.

They spiralled ever downwards, until finally - _finally_- they spilled out from the end of the stairs into a circular chamber. It was absolutely tremendous (as big - or bigger - than a football field and the ceiling soared to almost a hundred feet at its apex), but all but totally empty; the ceiling, where they could see it, showed veins of metal running criss-crossed across its surface, but the rest was dust and smoothed rock. on the far end of the room lay a door set into the rock- heavy, solid metal, closed tight. There was no seam between the door and its frame, and in fact it looked at a glance like simply a square of metal set into the wall.

"That door leads to Baihumon's chambers," BlackWarGreymon provided, being the last to enter the room.

"So we have to wait here?" Luke said, looking around as his eyes adjusted. He - nor any of them - could tell where the light was coming from, but a faint purplish light illuminated the room just enough for them to see one another.

"It won't be a dull wait, I assure you," Shamon said as he seated himself on the ground, sitting tailor-style and placing his hands on his knees.

"Are we in for more cryptic half-information?" Julian could not help but say as the group sat down, looking at Deekamon.

"It is his specialty," BlackWarGreymon mused, looking over his shoulder as he stepped into the room proper, only once the group of humans was seated. "But I don't think so. Not this time."

Deekamon let loose a deep breath, closing his eyes, and clapped his cloth-covered hands together.  
>"For as long as I have known you, children- and for as long as you, digimon, have been alive - I have known much more than I have been able to tell you. The reasons for this are many. Sometimes, I was planning to reveal these things later. Sometimes, I did not tell you for fear that it would dampen your ability to do what you were born and summoned for. Sometimes, I was not allowed to. But that ends here." He opened his eyes. "Warriors of the Virtue, I may not see you again after this, and if I do, it will be in no position to talk. You deserve to understand."<p>

Well, _that_got their attention right quick.

Having this attention, Deekamon proceeded to tell the story - as he knew it - of Era's history. This was much the story recounted above- though, by necessity, with less in the way of fine details.  
>"And what I have just told you," Deekamon finished, sighing heavily as he drew it to a close, "is - in condensed form - the story of our good friend, Era, as I know it."<p>

"What good does that do us?" The other six humans were absolutely appalled at Julian's remark, but the three Mega digimon took it quite well as Julian continued. "It's useful to know where he comes from, but what good does it do us to know that?"

"We were going to get to that," BlackWarGreymon said, but he was not a particularly verbose digimon (not in this form, at least), and thus did not explain, himself. He looked back to Shamon, who nodded and began to speak.

"Know your enemy. The lesson to take from this is that Era has a fixation. He hates Digimon, for two reasons: first, because he believes that they are to blame for the ruination of his life and his plan in the other digital world. Second, and far more dangerous, is this: he created one, and then never duplicated the feat. In that, we have eluded his understanding."

Deekamon agreed, and began again. "And yet, what the Sovereigns fear - now that there are only Baihumon and Fanglongmon left - is that he is intending to use the powers in their cores, and the power of the virtue he has stolen, to repeat the act. The closest he has come is his 'creation' of Forbidramon. However, for that, he had to employ two things- a living base, and the data of an extant digimon. He created nothing of his own." Luke bowed his head, perpetually a bit sheepish about the subject.

"If what Deekamon says is true,"Shamon explained, "then Era would be using multiple cores to serve as an impossibly powerful base, and using the Virtue he stole to infuse it with a constant stream of data. If such a digimon were created, it would threaten the integrity of the Tree- and any worlds the Tree touches."

Well, there you go.

"How do you know all this?" Efudemon piped up, nestled in Simon's lap comfortably.

Deekamon looked to Shamon, who looked to BlackWarGreymon. Toby buried his face in his hood, frowning, Luke breathed out heavily, and Sampamon curled a bit tighter around his shoulders in a comforting gesture.  
>Those not in the know looked between those who reacted and were incredibly confused.<p>

"We have... a history," Deekamon said, bowing his head. "A couple of your number know this." The hooded digimon and looked between Luke and Toby.

"How do you know I-" Toby began, alarmed, but Luke cut him off.

"I told him," Luke responded, quiet enough that nobody but Toby, Fuwamon, and Sampamon heard him. "After you asked on the way over, if Epidemon ever told the truth, and I... had a feeling."

"What's going on, Toby?" Fuwamon asked, blinking a few times.

"What your friends know that you don't," Deekamon said, and he bowed his head, his voice much less animated than it was, even moments before when he was telling the story of Era, "is that we three- Shamon, BlackWarGreymon, and myself... used to be Era's Reapers. We are in part to blame for much of his initial spread through the Digital World."

No reaction could match the _wail_ that rose out of Efudemon- he cried out and thrashed so badly that Simon actually had to grip him in his arms to keep him still. "Deekamon! Deekamon! You _lied_! You worked for _him_! How _could_ you!?"  
>Though the other Baby II-level digimon were not quite as animated as Efudemon, they did not stay silent. Cindemon and Finmon were shocked into silence; tears began to form in Fuwamon's eyes. Mismon squawked and flapped wildly. Most tellingly, however, was the fact that Paleomon said nothing; he merely closed his eyes and sunk his head further into Julian's lap. The humans, too, let out cries of surprise and indignation, but most were too busy trying to calm their partners. Sampamon and Luke, who already knew, bowed their heads in silence.<br>And as for Toby?

Toby looked at Deekamon, and he felt a pang in his heart- because he could see, behind the manic grin sewed onto his hoodie, Deekamon's heart was _shattered_. Shamon folded his hands and placed them to his forehead as though in prayer, but it was BlackWarGreymon who spoke, eyes closed and voice solemn.

"It was Deekamon who led us in rebellion, in the fifteenth year. He risked far more than dying to lead us away. He risked far more than dying to plead to the Sovereigns, to plead for our lives to be spared so that we might become warriors on the side of the Sovereigns. When it was decided that we would call another world for assistance, Shamon and I both volunteered ourselves to become your guardians, Virtue Receivers, until your partners could be summoned. They did not choose us. It was Deekamon, hiding in a self-imposed exile, who did not volunteer, that they chose to guard you. The Sovereigns are divine beings; Era, for all he may claim to be one, is _not_."

"But you-" Efudemon began, his voice broken.

"I lied to protect you," Deekamon cut in, and his voice was broken just as much, if not more, than Efudemon's was. "You had to be protected, kept safe. To be safe, I had to keep you with me. If I had to lie to make sure you stayed with me until your partners came, to make sure you survived, I would do it. Your lives are the most important things to me; without them, I am nothing, and I will not be nothing before that time is come."

Efudemon blinked away tears; he felt betrayed, he felt hurt, he felt that his lifelong hero had changed, somehow, in his eyes.  
>And still, he felt that he knew what he had to do. The little fluffy head bounced his way towards Deekamon, and looked up at him with blurry, tear-filled eyes, his face scrunched up in a hurt, angry expression.<br>And then, he smiled, though his eyes were still damp. "Thank you, Deekamon."

And one by one, the other digimon (save, again, for Sampamon) each went forward, and gathered around their mentor, and did the same. When Deekamon looked to the snake round Luke's shoulders, Sampamon bowed her head and smiled, but said nothing.

Any apprehension the children had melted away, bit by bit, when each of their partners stepped forward.

This peaceful environment was not long-lived, however. Deekamon sighed, looking down at the digimon gathered around him. "I have to tell them, now," he said, quiet, but not quiet enough to not be heard by the gathered humans. "I don't want this to come as a surprise, and I may not have another chance to tell them."

"Tell us what?" Emily asked, blinking a couple times.

"These seven digimon know their purpose," Deekamon said, closing his eyes. "They were created to save our world from Era's evil intent. They know, have known forever, that this is what they exist to do."

"We know, we know," Faris said, pulling his knees to his chest. "So what's the big deal?"

Deekamon sighed, and shook his head. "I did not tell you, because I fear if you knew, you would not have felt free to bond with your digimon- a bond that _needed_to be created in order for the Virtues to work. For their Mega forms to be achieved."

The seven children waited with bated breath; none of them knew what Deekamon was waiting to say, unlike the previous announcement. Their digimon, however, did, and if they had a head to bow, they did; otherwise, they simply lowered their gazes.  
>"When they complete the task they were born to do, the seven Digimon of the Virtue will die."<p>

The kids began to murmur, a single thought on all their minds; a single thought that Simon voiced. "Yeah, but... I mean... digimon die all the time, but they get reborn. So... what's the-"

"You misunderstand," Shamon said, looking down at the egg of Epidemon that he still held. "When their task is completed, they will not return."

"But- why!?" Emily blurted; tears were beginning to gather at the tears of her eyes. Again, the reaction was mixed among the children, but most were simply frozen with shock as the reality of this statement really sunk in.

Shamon closed his eyes. "Your partners are not normal digimon; powerful and unique, born directly from Yggdrasil. Their data must be returned to the Tree, for the strain their existence causes It..." Sigh. "Let it be said that there was a reason that this plan of action was not the Sovereign's first choice of answer to Era. This is our last chance, our last hope; they took drastic measures. Had they a better way, they would have done it."

"But that's not _fair_!" Andrea yelled, standing up while Cindemon hopped over to her.

"No, it isn't," BlackWarGreymon said, fixing the girl with a calm but stern look, "but it was either that or allowing both of our worlds - and a great number of others - to be destroyed by Era."

"We've known this since we were born," Fuwamon said, walking back over to Toby and nuzzling his knee; he was shaking, and not gently at that.

"No," Luke murmured, his eyes gone wide, his body frozen with shock as Sampamon nuzzled his cheek. "_No._"

"But- how the heck can they excuse that!?" Simon blurted, his face the image of disbelief. "They've called in a bunch of _kids_- is this, just, like, some big conspiracy to screw us up?"

Shamon shook his head. "The Sovereigns chose children because the bond you could form with the digimon was necessary as a... precaution, of sorts. If you could not bond with them, you could not lend power to them, or merge with them. They feared that older humans might skew... cynical, as it were. Even the most cynical among you," and the monkey looked pointedly at Julian, "still has a spark of his childhood, belief, and wonderment in him. That is why." (Julian looked as though he were mildly offended, but he said nothing.)

And then it was quiet.

"I am sorry," Deekamon murmured, bowing his head. "This is all we can give you. The story of Era, the story of myself, and what awaits you. I am sorry that you were dragged into this battle."

"This isn't-" Simon groaned, standing up and holding his head in his hands. "This isn't _right_. You can't- they can't _do this_. They can't give us this-"

"It was us or the world, Simon!" Efudemon said, having hopped over and now tugging at one leg of Simon's shorts, and the boy quieted down. He looked down at Efudemon, and breathed a shaky sigh.

"You're the coolest little guy," Simon mumbled. "All of you are. I just don't want to think about going back to a life without you guys."

"I guess... it was always bound to happen," Julian said, slow and quiet. "We couldn't stay here forever, and I doubt the digimon could survive in the real world..."

"That doesn't _help_!" Faris cried, halfway to pulling out his hair. "You don't _get_it, this is, like, the best thing-"

"I _know_, Faris," Julian borderline-snapped, turning to his brother. Faris was taken aback. He stared at his elder sibling, his expression hurt, but he said nothing. When Julian noticed the expression, his face softened, and he placed a hand on Faris' shoulder. "But they're not gone yet."

Emily wiped away a few stray tears with her arm, but nodded slowly. "It- he's right. We can't- stop. Not now. We've come too far. There's too much at stake, we gotta see it through." Mismon hopped up and nuzzled into her arms, and Emily could not help the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes. "Until the end."

"But still..." Andrea sighed, picking Cindemon into her arms and stroking down the fur on his head. He looked up at her with big blue eyes, as she said, so quietly: "I don't want to lose you, too."

"I guess I just... never thought about the fact that it'd end," Luke mumbled, staring at the ground, "let alone in such a final way."

"It's not goodbye, yet," Toby said, though he hugged Fuwamon close to his chest.

"He's right," Efudemon said, smiling up at Simon. "We still got some butts to kick before we call it quits."

"Darn straight," Simon said, a smile finding its way onto his face again. It was then that the group - human and digimon alike - both heard and felt a deep, low rumbling all around them. "And sooner than we thought," he added, clenching his fists. "I thought you said we'd have more time than this."

"We underestimated the hound- he must move faster, more efficiently, without his comrades," Shamon said, closing his eyes. When he looked up, he saw the kids preparing their D-GEAR units, the digimon in Baby II form preparing to return to their Child levels, and from there on up to a more combat-ready state.

"Don't fight," BlackWarGreymon said suddenly, looking to the door.

"What? Why?" Faris said, a bit louder than he intended to, blinking a couple times. Delfinimon mirrored his facial expression.

"You have not rested; any fight would be not be set in your favor, especially not against Javermon. If we fail to protect Baihumon, you may not have the time to get out safely," the dinosaur replied, looking down at the kids and their partners. "It is a terrible decision to have to make, but if we must choose between the sovereign and you, we're going to choose to save you."

"What!?" was blurted by all seven digimon, and in fact some of the humans; it wasn't hard to see why. The sovereigns, to them, were the supreme priority.

"The Sovereigns can be revived if you get their cores back," Shamon said, nodding, "but you cannot be replaced."

Egakumon stared, then closed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't care! We can't leave behind friends- warriors- heroes-" he trailed off, looking quite intently at the three megas before them.

"I'm with bunny boy," Delfinimon said, nodding her head. "It wouldn't be right, yeom."

"We can't turn our backs on our mission, but we can't turn our backs on you when you need us to fight at your side," Rajamon added.  
>Around them, the group was in agreement. D-GEARs at the ready, all - digimon partners, human partners, even BlackWarGreymon and Shamon - looked to Deekamon. The waited; the hoodie-wearing digimon sighed heavily, closed his eyes, and then...<p>

"No," Deekamon said, shaking his head, and the outcry was swift immediate and loud. "You have to get out."

"But-" Simon began.

"I'm sorry," Deekamon cut him off. "There are no buts. We'll pay for our own mistake for underestimating how fast Javermon would find us; you can't. When I was chosen to make you my charges, it was understood that I would give my life to keep you safe and keep you on your mission. I won't back out of that now."

"And we can't leave an ally behind and lose the chance to truly atone," Shamon said, a faint smile on his face.

"We will protect you, children, to the last," BlackWarGreymon said, bowing his head.

"The way you're talking, it sounds like you're marching in to your deaths," Emily said, frowning.

"We'll be fine."  
>The glint in Deekamon's eyes was reassuring, though the kids could not shake the feeling that this could well be the last time they saw their friends. However, it was soon gone, as his yellow eyes narrowed.<p>

In that moment, they heard a crash from the stairwell. Apparently, Javermon didn't see the use of stairs, as he crashed down into the rock floor with such force the only logical option was that he had jumped from the top, kicking up a cloud of dust. "Never before have I seen this much traitorous scum in one room," the last remaining Reaper snarled, his eyes narrowed, as he stepped into the room. "It's only too bad I can kill only a small portion of them. It will have to do."

"Go! Now!" BlackWarGreymon said, before taking off. He ran at an arc, coming at Javermon from the side as the claws on one of his gauntlets began to glow. "**Mega Claw**!"

Javermon leapt out of the way, his claws glowing red. "**Blood Oath**!" he growled, slamming his claws down as he fell back towards BlackWarGreymon. In return, the dinosaur quickly whipped the halves of the shield on its back off and slammed them together in front of him. Javermon's claws sank into the metal cutting deep grooves into it, but could not permeate it fully.

"Stop waiting! "**Extend Arm**!" Deekamon yelled, his arms stretching out to deliver a hard double-fisted hit from a distance.

"... You heard the hoodie-wearing wacko! Move it!" Andrea yelled after a moment of hesitation, and the group scooped their digimon into their arms and made a break for the door.

"_You're not getting away so easily_," Javermon snarled, trying to wrest free- but Shamon leapt forward, smashing one hand into the ground in front of the canine.

"Yes they are! **Permafrost**!"  
>And from his hand into the ground spread veins of ice, which quickly sprouted up as crystals freezing Javermon to the ground.<p>

And that was the last thing any of the kids saw of the fight before they were scrambling back up the spiral staircase back to the surface. From there, all they could hear was the sounds of battle, fading quieter and quieter the further up they got.


	42. Chapter 42: Falling Stars

_A/N: I think by now you all realize that when I fail to update for a month, it's because I'm either lazy, or life got in the way. This time, it's both, because my job saps my will to live! Ahahah god. Anyway! I'll be in Florida visiting friends from March 8th to the 18th, so don't expect an update between those dates- I'll try to update before I go. (I also believe we'll be going to MegaCon in Orlando while I'm there, so, idk, drop me a line if for some reason you'll be there too...)  
>ANYWAY.<br>I just want to say that UGH I LOVE ALL MY REVIEWERS big and small and let me love you okay_

* * *

><p>As the kids ran for it - away from the mountains they had come from, to whatever lay on the other side of the city - they were in a trance. It was painfully early in the morning, and they were running on so very little fuel, but they couldn't stop.<br>And they couldn't stop thinking: what was happening to their friends? If they failed, then the ground beneath their feet would begin to shake, if Baihumon was taken by the final Reaper. But... how were Deekamon and his friends faring? There were three of them versus one of him, but... they seemed worried. What was going to happen?

"I can't," Andrea groaned after a while, holding her side, "go any futher."  
>The others had a hard time disagreeing; the digimon, wherever they were hitching a ride on their human partners, were all either half-asleep or full-on dozing. They weren't to the border of the city yet, not even close, but it was too late, too much, they were too <em>tired<em> to go on. They found an alleyway, a dead-end, but as sheltered as they were going to get without breaking into a building (a feat none of them were feeling up to trying.)

"What are we s'posed to do if..." Toby said, but trailed off, frowning as he looked in the direction they had come from. What he meant was 'if the Sovereign falls', and that was understood without words.

"Kamomon - or, I guess, Mismon - and I, if worse comes to worse, I mean..." Emily said, petting the little bird-puff in her arms. "As Rocmon, we're big enough to carry all of you. I'm sure someone will wake up."

"Aye," Mismon mumbled, sleepily cracking one eye open and smiling. "I'll have the energy after a bit of sleep, I'm guessing."

"I'll stand watch first," Simon said immediately; the others looked at him, some more quizzically than others, but nobody complained.

"Your prerogative," Julian remarked, shrugging.

Simon paused and blinked, raising an eyebrow. "What's that mean?"

"It means you're welcome to do so," Paleomon replied, keeping his eyes closed.

"Wake us up if anything goes wonky, O Gogglehead," Faris remarked, slumping down against the wall and falling asleep the moment he hit the ground.

"And wake me up when you need to sleep," Julian added, looking at Simon; Simon gave a thumbs-up in reply.

* * *

><p>It was only a couple of hours later; it was still the dead of night, Simon was still sitting up on guard, leaning against one wall at the mouth of the alley. His partner had been awake and alert, ready to go in the event of any sign of a threat or danger.<br>But there was no sign of danger.

"Hey Efudemon?" he said after a while, one of the first words he has said since the others went to sleep.

"What's up?" the little puffball asked, hopping up alongside his partner.

Simon sighed, resting his head on his hand. "You said that you knew. About the thing Deekamon said, that you and- and all of you, you're going to die when we win. But... how much of this did you think was going to happen? With the Sovereigns, stuff like that."

Efudemon paused, looking up at Simon. "I don't know. We were told to expect anything, but I donno if I ever thought this would happen."

"You think we're gonna win?"

Efudemon seemed downright offended before the words even finished falling from Simon's mouth. "Of course. It's what we were born to do- it's why you were brought here. We're sure as heck not gonna _lose._" Despite the furball's offended tone, Simon smiled faintly.

"Chill, bro. I wasn't doubting us. I just... I don't know if this was what I expected, when I got here, when they told me I was going to be a hero." He sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"We'll be fine," Efudemon said, smiling. "We always are, and we always will be. If we have to fight tooth and nail to kick Era into the next century, we're gonna do it."

Pause, and then a full smile on Simon's face. "Yeah. ... but I gotta get some sleep, or I'm gonna be no good to anyone."  
>And it was with that that Simon gently nudged Julian awake, and almost as soon as he had, he fell asleep.<p>

* * *

><p>Simon's dreams were... less than pleasant. Though they weren't particularly vivid, nor was he likely to remember them, but they all had a pervasive sense of being lost- of punching at what he thought was an enemy only to have it dissolve into smoke, resulting in him turning to try again; and then only to be attacked from behind, from where what he had thought was a phantom had been a moment before.<p>

And at the end, when he was about to lay a hit on his unknown enemy- at last - he was rudely awoken by an ear-splitting roar, the entire world rumbling around him, and Julian yelling

"Up! _Now_!"  
>The last was likely a bit superfluous; everyone was stirring to- the roar and the rumble was enough of an alarm, without their teammate having to give a wakeup call.<p>

"_Jeeze_! There's a wake-up call and a half for you!" Faris complained, having to press himself up against the wall to stand up and still hold Finmon with one arm.

"We're on red alert as of ten seconds ago," Julian said quickly, looking to Emily as she stood up. "Now'd be a great time."

She nodded, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and Mismon - though still a bit tired - hopped out of her arms, flapping very fast to keep himself aloft while he was engulfed in white light. "Mismon, kickstart digivolve to... Kamomon!" The bird dropped to the ground, and the group quickly moved from the alleyway out into the street to allow Emily and Kamomon to have the space they needed to digivolve and give them their out.  
>Emily twirled her D-GEAR in her hand as it began to glow, and she and her partner followed suit.<p>

"Kamomon, genesis digivolve to... Rocmon!"

The newly-formed Rocmon held out a wing to serve as a bridge, of sorts, to enable boarding onto his back. "Get on, an' make it quick!" Those kids and digimon not currently comprising the tremendous avian did not waste any time clambering on. "Hold tight," he warned, and once he felt the weight of all six of his fellows on his back, he began to move. He got a few pre-flight strides in, and then kicked off into the air, clearing the buildings on either side before he began to flap his powerful, not to mention _large_, wings. Rocmon let loose a long, shrill keening noise, throwing his head back before he began to rise, quite quickly, into the air with only a few beats of his wings.

"Do you see anything?" Toby asked, grabbing tight hold as he tried to peer around without looking down too much.

"Nae," the bird responded, looking around. His eyes were sharp, but the sun was only just rising- "Wait," he mumbled, narrowing his eyes. Looking in the direction that the building whose basement in which Baihumon had been holed up, he spied a dark shape leaping from rooftop to rooftop, blindingly fast. It ran on all fours, hunched over, with a glowing orb clenched in its jaws.  
>Zero prizes for guessing who and what it was.<p>

"I see him! Should I-?" Rocmon rumbled, his pupils narrowing. He was half prepared to give chase, or at least send an attack the dog's way.

"No," Julian said immediately, and there was an immediate outbreak of response- none more vocal than Simon and Efudemon, but even Rocmon let out a sort of surprised squawk. Julian spoke fast, much faster than he usually did. (Maybe it had something to do with the sparing amount of sleep he had gotten.)  
>"Look, I know this isn't going to be a popular opinion, but just <em>think<em>. What are we going to be able to do if he has the core? Nothing. Even if we defeat him - and that's unlikely, seeing as how he's got the core, meaning he got past Deekamon, Shamon, and BlackWarGreymon, if not outright killed them - what would we do? We'd either have to leave it where it was, or we'd be hanging a sign around our necks for any other underling Era wants to whip up to come and take it from us, and they'd win by sheer numbers.  
>"Javermon is going to take the core to Era; if we follow him, he leads us to Era," Julian concluded. "That was what we were supposed to be doing before the sovereigns became an issue, at any rate."<p>

It made sense, though some were less willing to admit it than others.

"I... guess," Simon grumbled, frowning; there was a lot on his mind, and this wasn't helping. This didn't feel like fighting tooth and nail- this felt like something he couldn't put his finger on - but he swallowed his pride.

Rocmon turned in the skies to fly to the north. From the east, the rays of the sun were starting to peek over the Metal City for the last time. There was not a human or digimon among them who didn't feel pained, like they had failed in some way. Perhaps soon it would turn to incentive to face their final challenges with strength, but for now, it was only another sobering reality. The only upside was that, as best they could tell, no digimon were perishing with it; they had been evacuated.  
>They tried not to think that there might be three brave digimon that fell there. They didn't know for sure; they would not yet let themselves be taken by mourning.<p>

They couldn't see the northern edge of the city from here- they were still quite to the southern end of the Area. It would be a ways before they got out. Perhaps Javermon noticed them, because he started making himself harder to see, running through alleyways and darker places on his way out - even if he had to wreck corners of buildings as he bulldozed past.

* * *

><p>By the time Rocmon finally reached the edge of he area, it was the early afternoon; most of the group on his back had fallen asleep, and even the bird himself was flagging a little. The city below was crumbling apart behind them, falling into nothingness starting from the center and moving out; it was more than a little bit creepy to watch, truth be told. Javermon had managed to outstrip them some time ago, but they had no doubt that he was headed in the same direction as they. (Call it a hunch.) Ahead of them was a change of scenery, in its own peculiar way; it was a dense cloud of what looked like fog, extending in both directions as far as they eye could see.<p>

"And I'm betting that _that's_ the Proxy Area," Andrea said, sitting up and leaning forward.

Rocmon nodded his head. "I don't see a cave," the bird rumbled. "Are we meant to go straight through?"

"Also betting on that," Cindemon piped up while Andrea began to nudge Faris with her foot to get him to wake up.

"I don't know about the rest of you," Rocmon said after a moment, as they drew closer, "but I for one would prefer _not_ to see what happens if I try to fly through in this form. I'm going to land."

"I'm going to wager that's probably for the better," Andrea said, craning her neck to look behind. "But make it quick."

And so - while those who were asleep were roused to wakefulness - Rocmon began his descent, being careful not to drop quickly enough that any of his allies would be thrown off, but not dawdling. His feet hit down on the ground, very near the edge indeed- the metal pavement was beat and scuffled and even torn up at places, revealing solid rock veined with metal hiding beneath. Even as the land behind them was crumbling apart and decaying on a very base level, collapsing into an abyss that opened up below the ground, they had enough time to get the heck out.

"Up and off, lads and lass!" Rocmon cawed; by the time he had landed, his teammates had been roused, and they did not waste _any_ time in disembarking from the bird's back.

With a flash of light, Rocmon separated into Mismon and Emily once more.

And there they stood on the threshhold, trying to gaze into the fog- to no avail. Behind them, the city was still crumbling apart, granting incentive for them to move forward.

"Here goes nothin'," Simon said, pulling his goggles down over his eyes- as a safety precaution. (Who knew what this stuff was, if this was indeed a proxy area? ... or, honestly, even if it wasn't?)

"Whoa," Faris remarked; Simon raised an eyebrow as he turned. "I didn't know you ever actually wore those things."

"It is kind of an odd fashion accessory," Julian remarked, holding Paleomon in one arm as he put a hand in his pocket.

"Ah, stuff it, they're cool," Simon mumbled, his cheeks flushing slightly.

"It's a good idea," the elder boy conceded with a shrug of one shoulder. "I'm going to suggest we follow suit and cover our eyes. At least until something inevitably tries to murder us."

Simon quirked his eyebrow again, but did not remark. Instead, he looked to the little furry digimon partner he held. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Efudemon said; if anybody had any objections, they were overruled by the fact that the area behind them was crumbling fast, and if they didn't get moving, they would have a tough time doing much of _anything._  
>And so, moving as one unruly mob, some faster than others, they covered their eyes threw himselves forwards through the fog, and they got a swift and immediate answer to where they were going.<p>

Unlike every other proxy area before - even the ones on the mountains - there was no wait here. Every bit of tingling, every ounce of pressure that always accompanied the area change, was not spread out over time- it was all at once.  
>The digimon felt it, but not as strongly as their partners did. It was also probably a good idea that they covered their eyes, because a bit of the fog seeped into their noses and throats - both digimon and human alike - and burned <em>intensely<em> before dissipiating relatively quickly. They didn't want to imagine what'd happen if it got into their eyes.

But their thoughts about that were short-lived, because the place they stepped into was beyond any they had seen before.

They were standing on a cliff, overlooking a vast abyss of swirling darkness. Ahead and to the right the cliff sloped downwards into a hill, leading to an expanse of solid land. It was jagged and rough, flat land punctuated by craggy rocks, cliffs and mesas that rose out of nowhere and tapered off as quickly as they shot up. All of this covered was in greyish-purple sands, whipped into the air by a harsh, bitter wind that howled as it ripped across the landscape; the wind bit at their skin, but the sand and grit blown into the air did not reach this high. Overhead, a blanket of purple-red clouds swirled like a storm that never came to fruition.  
>It was not a hospitable-looking place, in other words.<p>

"What the heck is this?" Cindemon grumbled while Simon pulled his goggles back up to look around.

"Were we ever told about anywhere like this?" Fuwamon asked; the other digimon mumbled a negative... except Sampamon, who remained tight-lipped.

"Guys," Luke said after a moment, frowning. "I know where we are. At least, I have a clue."

"Do enlighten us," Paleomon said, looking sidelong at the boy- a gesture which was quickly mirrored by the other members of the team, though most turned to look at Luke and Sampamon instead of merely glance.

Luke's face was tinged a bit with pink, not comfortable being the center of attention all of a sudden, but he forced himself to speak. "I don't know of anywhere else that looks like this- we're in the Barren Lands. It's... kind of where Era sets up shop."

So they didn't have far to follow Javermon. Great. Fantastic.

"Why didn't you tell us before? Like, when were in the city?" Emily said, trying to puzzle it out in her head.

"We- well, gimme a break..." Luke mumbled, lowering his eyes. "We didn't really go directly in and out. I- don't know if you ever saw it, but usually, we just teleported. I didn't... really know where it was, in terms of in the big scheme of things. Reimon had a lot of power for her size."

"Would that I still maintained the power to move us through shadows," Sampamon said, closing her eyes. "It'd make our job easier."

"Regardless," Julian said, sighing as he turned to look towards the expanse of land being assaulted by sand, "he chose a heck of a place for a final dungeon."

"A _what_?" Andrea said; it was her turn to raise an eyebrow.

Julian didn't miss a beat. "Nothing," he said, totally deadpan.

Andrea fixed him with a sort of incredulous look for a moment, before she continued. "So, why can't we just tough it out and get going?"

"It's... not safe to go out, when the sands are acting up. Digimon come out if they figure something's roaming around, and they're not the picture of friendliness, usually," Sampamon said, and if she had shoulders she would have shrugged.

"The wind does die down occasionally," Luke provided, quickly, leading off of his partner's statement. "We'll just have to wait for it to calm down, trek through, find shelter, rinse, and repeat"

"While Javermon is probably just toughing it out," Simon remarked, more to himself than anything; in fact, it was hard to hear him over a sudden rearing up of the wind howling away. He couldn't contain it anymore- he was getting _frustrated_. His thoughts were interrupted, however.

"It's strongest before it calms- we might gain some land if we hurry," Sampamon said thoughtfully, looking out at the expanse of land.

Well, better _some_ than _none_; the still-slightly-groggy assortment of kids, most holding their partners in their arms, took off down the hill at a none too slow pace, even with eyes covered. Occasionally they had to dig their heels down in to avoid falling forward on the sand-dusted slope, and their shoes skidded and slipped a bit regardless. As he always did, Simon was at the front of the pack, goggles once down over his eyes.

It didn't take long for the ground to flatten out, despite the considerable length of the run- as it was in fact _downhill_, it wasn't exactly hard going; the wind had, indeed, calmed gradually as they descended, and it was almost eerily calm by the time they hit level ground. Better eerily calm, however, than the alternative.

"So, what- we just pick a direction and go?" Faris said, shifting Finmon to be under one arm and placing the other arm akimbo.

Luke paused, and looked over his shoulder, towards the ocean-like abyss. "Ssssomething like that."

Well, there they were. Preparing themselves for the lovely experience of trying to run on sand (like they hadn't had enough of it in the Relic Desert, not at all) and holding their digimon partners tight, they began walking in towards the expanse of sand.

* * *

><p>They walked at a brisk march for a while- going on an hour. It was decided that the digimon would hop up to their Child forms, both in case of danger and so the children and digimon would have their hands (or paws, or fins, or wings) freed to cover their faces. This was necessary because occasionally, the wind would rear up for a second or two, blasting them in the face with sand, and then die down immediately.<p>

Aside from these bursts of wind and grit, it was almost disconcertingly quiet; they talked among themselves some, but for the most part, the only sound was the wind howling away in the distance.  
>The ground, though it appeared even, was only falsely so, it turned out; no doubt due to some peculiarity of the digital world, it was impossible to tell when the grit was a thin coating covering solid ground just below, or piled high, and the travelers' feet would sink into it several inches before being stopped by the compacted sand.<p>

And none of this was what was forefront on their minds.

The time they had spent in the digital world felt so much longer than it was. For all the trouble and pain and setbacks they had faced, they were all but on the doorstep of the person responsible for everything.  
>And that was a surreal feeling- like one that they had felt was always far-off, not quite a reality that would happen.<p>

They didn't know if it would end here; they had a feeling it wouldn't. But... here they were.

This was weighing a bit heavier on the minds of some than of others. Namely, it was on the brain of - of all people - Simon, and he was a bit frustrated about it. These kinds of heavier thoughts were not, by any means, his wont; he pushed them back and made a note to himself to talk to Egakumon. If anyone would 'get' him, it would be his partner.

The wind around them was finally starting to whip up again; Kamomon flapped his way up into the air to get a better look at one of the craggy upshoots of rock not far from where they were. "I think I see somewhere to take shelter!" the bird announced. (He was then immediately blasted out of the air by a powerful gust of wind, and tumbled back down into Emily's arms.)  
>They took the last stretch of this at as much of a sprint as was possible with their shoes filled with sand.<p>

Once at the rock, they found the bird's words rang true; there was a smallish alcove there, shielded enough by outcroppings of rock to suffice.  
>(Really, it was interesting that they were now so used to counting 'a space large enough to hold seven children and seven small-child-sized monsters' as "smallish".)<p>

In they piled, and for a moment or five, they paused to catch their breath and shake the sand out of their shoes (and every other article of clothing they had on their body).

"So," Julian said, breaking the silence. "What Deekamon said- about what's going to happen. He telling the truth?"

"As best we can tell," Lammon said with a nod.

"Can you explain why? As you understand it," the eldest boy of the company said, sitting back against the rock wall behind him.

"Our makeup is... peculiar," Sampamon said. "Most digimon cannot so easily shift between forms as we can, let alone merge with humans. It makes for an unstable composition."

"Hmm."  
>Julian made a humming noise of consideration. He said nothing more, merely exchanging a look with Iguamon. What he meant by that look was, as ever, totally unknowable to anyone of the company who was not a dinosaur.<p>

Faris groaned, threading the fingers of one hand through his hair. "You know, bro, for someone who got so torked at Deekamon for cryptic conversations, you're sure good at them. It wouldn't kill you to be straightforward, would it?"  
>Delfinimon, in Faris' lap, shifted a little, but said nothing. In the dolphin's mind, there was absolutely no doubt as to the thinly-veiled meaning of her partner's words. Julian, for his part, merely quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing.<p>

Indeed, nobody said anything for a moment or two. Simon, to break the silence, let loose a string of vowels and guttural consonants, something to the tune of '_urauaouuughhh_'. He pushed himself to a standing position, using the rock face behind him to support himself as he did. Everyone was way too on-edge for him, especially when he was having to deal with a bunch of thoughts he didn't have the words for- a sensation he was not used to, and one that was frustrating him immensely.

"What are you doing?" Emily said, a bit alarmed, as Simon turned to look outside, leaning against the wall.

"I'll be right back," Simon said, then, looking to Egakumon. The rabbit, a confused expression on his face, hopped to his feet with a nod regardless.

"If you get lost, I will hunt you down and drag you back myself, and it won't be pretty," Andrea said, folding her arms and frowning.

"And I'll help," Emily said, huffing a little. "Seriously, don't... like, get lost, or eaten by scorpions, or something."  
>"Always wanted a good rabbit hunt," Rajamon mumbled absently, smirking; when Egakumon stuck his tongue out, the tiger stuck his out as well in retaliation. Simon smiled faintly, but pulled his goggles back over his eyes, turned, and walked out of the little alcove. It wasn't a full-blown sandstorm yet, but there wasn't a terrible amount of time until it was, and a few of the number were bracing themselves to go fetch the goggle-headed boy if anything went wrong. Simon wasn't the broody type. (That was more of either Julian or Luke's job, depending on the day of the week.)<p>

Luckily, Simon wasn't headed off into the wild blue (more purple-red, really) yonder to try and hunt down Javermon by himself, though he'd be lying if he said the thought hadn't occurred to him. (_If Javermon could run straight through this, then certainly Kisekimon could..._)  
>But surprisingly enough, he knew better than that- at least on some level.<br>No, he didn't go far at all. He didn't speak a word as he circled around the rocky structure, searching for another alcove to stand in and be protected from the sand in the air. He found one, about a third of the way around the crag, Egakumon hot on his heels.

"So what's going on, Si?" the rabbit asked, wiping a bit of sand off his snout and shaking some grit out of his ear.

"I have _no idea_," Simon replied, leaning one elbow against the wall of the little alcove and looking at Egakumon as he pulled his goggles up. The rabbit cocked an eyebrow, and Simon sighed. "I've been thinking. I know, that's weird in and of itself!" he grinned, and Egakumon grinned back.  
>"I donno, man," the boy said, gesturing vaguely with one hand. "Just... we keep running around, and nothing ever seems to work, you know?"<p>

"You're gonna have to be more specific," Egakumon said, twirling his paintbrush around his claws.

"We've just failed, with flying colours, to protect all four of the sovereigns that aren't the big golden dragon of the center... thing," Simon said.

"Fanglongmon," Egakumon provided.

"Yeah, that one!" the boy said, nodding. "But... you know what I mean, right? We can't seem to protect them - heck, even Deekamon and the monkey and the dinosaur thing couldn't hold Javermon off. And... heck." He thought back- digimon not aligned with Era attacking them in the cave under the ruins, Pharaohmon- and even back to the Gekomon distrusting them. "Even digimon that should be on our side are getting fed up. We ran away from a chance to protect the sovereign, and who knows if Deekamon got away from that overgrown watchdog?"

Simon sighed, and shook his head. "I mean, you gotta understand- I wasn't exactly popular, back home. I didn't even have the excuse of being one of the nerds- y'know as well as I do that Julian's big words confuse me a bit. Let's be honest- I'm _kiiiind_ of a bit of a blockhead," Simon said, and both he and his partner smiled at that- Simon wasn't particularly ashamed or self-deprecating, he was merely stating it. "But so, I donno. I guess maybe I was just a bit too loud, or a bit too dumb, or something like that, so kids always picked on me. Always have." Egakumon was listening with rapt attention.  
>"So, y'gotta imagine how it felt when I ended up here. It felt like something out of, like, a video game, or a comic book. You take this lame kid who's nothing that special except for being a bit loud, and you tell him, yeah, he's been chosen to be a <em>hero<em>, to save a world, and more than that, he gets a rad little monster buddy, who gets bigger and more hardcore when crap goes down, and he has to team up with a bunch of other kids who've been given the same treatment. He gets to be the hero, and he gets to stand up and fight, and have a chance at winning."  
>He grinned, and he and Egakumon fist-bumped here. Simon's face fell gradually, then. "But then, after you tell him this, it turns out that nothin' really goes right. Everything the group does turns out to be, like... either all for nothing, or they're being strung along by the bad guy. The creatures- heck, the people - they're supposed to be protecting start getting mad, 'cos nothing's working the way it's supposed to. And then, right when they can fight alongside these powerful mentor dudes- they get told they have to run away.<br>"But that's not enough!" Here, Simon actually reared back and punched - not too hard, but not a light tap - the solid rock with him with one fist. "No, _then_, you tell him that this rad little monster dude, basically created to be the best friend he's ever had, is gonna die, for good, never to be seen again, if they win!"

Simon pulled the glove off of the hand he had punched the wall with. He rubbed his now slightly-bloodied knuckles, and sat down on the dusty, sandy floor. Egakumon's attention was still one-hundred percent on Simon's words, and - uncharacteristically - he did not have any comments or quips.  
>"I know we're supposed to be heroes and saviors or whatever, but right now... I don't feel much like a hero at all. I kinda feel like I just miss my mom and dad." He frowned, thinking back to when they were almost back in the real world. "Heck, I even kind of miss Sarah, and all <em>she<em> ever did was yell at me. But then _that_ makes me think. ... and boy, let me tell you, I'm _not_ digging this whole deep-thinking stuff," he said, lifting his head with a sort of miffed expression. "But... heck, I miss my family now, and we've only been here for a handful of weeks. The heck's gonna happen when we miss this place?"

He rested his chin on his hand as he continued. "It's not... like, we've only been here a little while, but this place is practically a second home. Even with things trying to kill us at every turn, it's not just about saving our end of things, you know? This place is important, too. But when we leave, we're not coming back. When we're done, you guys... you're gonna _die_. If you weren't around, we wouldn't last a day here."

Egakumon paused, and thought for a second. It had really never occurred to him, or, really, any of the other digimon, even the cold and rational thinker Iguamon, the compassionate always-thought-of-others Lammon, or the quietly wise Sampamon.  
>"I... guess, we never really thought of that. We never really had reason to, you know?" the rabbit said, thoughtful. "But I do see what you mean. I'm sorry, for sure, that I don't have the answers. But... I donno. It's not the greatest thing, but it's the best shot we've got. We have to do it because even if it sucks in the meantime, we gotta do it for the greater good, or something like that."<br>Simon said nothing, merely clenching his fists on the ground. Egakumon sat down and placed one of his broad, clawed hands over the hand of his partner. "And don't forget that we digimon would be _grade-A buttered toast_ without you here. Don't give us all the credit. I said it earlier, and I'm sayin' it again- we're gonna win. There's no hill that lasts forever, you know? You'll reach the top if you keep climbing and doing what you need to do."

Simon paused, and nodded slowly. "Sorry, I got a bit... wordy, in there. I just didn't want to spill my guts all of a sudden at them, you know? Seems they're already on-edge enough, without me piling it up higher. I guess it just... the thing with Deekamon, it got to me." He didn't want to drag them down with this on his mind- he felt that, truly, he was there to be the one that yelled 'go', and if he was going to sulk, he'd keep his distance and make it quick, so as not to discourage the others- or, at the least, so as not to exacerbate any extant tension.

"Me, too," Egakumon conceded, nodding. "You know... it's just a lot to take in all at once. ... I don't think they're gone. Even if Javermon defeated them..." he paused, as if he didn't want to consider the possibility (he didn't), "they'll be back, someday. Everything goes back to Yggdrasil, and Yggdrasil is the force, I guess is the word, behind everything here." Simon nodded slowly, standing up.  
>"I guess what I mean is that, well, we'll make it."<p>

"I guess, I- wait a second." Simon cut himself off and squinted his eyes to look out into the barren landscape. The wind was picking up, blowing sand every which way, and he had to shield his eyes a bit, but he saw, moving through towards the horizon, a dark shape- clutching a brilliantly bright thing in its mouth. Its trajectory was straight ahead, due north; the shape would have been invisible from the vantage point of the alcove the rest were hiding in.

"Javermon," Egakumon said, quiet, looking up at Simon. The boy's hands were clenched into fists, and he closed his eyes.  
>For a moment, the urge to give chase gripped him, powerful and all but driving him to move automatically...<br>And yet, he pushed that instinct down.

Simon opened his eyes just in time to see the dark shape that they could only assume was Javermon turn to look at them; the change was a bit hard to see at the distance, but it did not go unnoticed.

What went doubly noticed was that Javermon shifted the orb in his mouth to one giant hand - Simon scanned his brain and tried to remember if this was what Javermon looked like last they saw him (as, mind- none of the kids, save possibly Luke, had actually seen Javermon up close in his bestial form; he remembered the sight of when they had been flying above, and concluded his supposing it was the dog was correct). He didn't have much time to think, however, as the distant shape of Javermon suddenly, his mouth free, reared his head back and howled.  
>It was loud, the same noise they had heard in the city; they could see, even at a distance, that the dog's back was bowed as he craned his head skywards. Javermon began to run, still letting loose his haunting cry as he ran (a bit lopsided, thanks to the orb in one big paw), eyes focused skywards.<p>

"Something tells me," Simon said, slowly, "that this is not going to end well." He pulled his goggles back down over his eyes and stepped out, Egakumon at his side.

Nothing happened- no digimon emerged from the sands, nothing leapt up to try and murder them.

In fact, when something happened, it was innocent, but Simon and Egakumon both nearly leapt a mile into the air, themselves, when - after an uncomfortable, tense stretch of confused silence- a voice came from beside them.  
>"Are you coming back, or are you going to wait out here until you get killed?"<p>

He turned; standing there were Luke and Andrea both, both accompanied by their respective digimon partners. Andrea had been the one to speak, and she stood with one hand on her hip and a quirked eyebrow. Luke put his hands in his pockets, while Sampamon - for once - was down in the sand, near her partner's feet, instead of slung around his neck.

"I came to make sure you weren't getting yourself maimed, when we heard the howling," Andrea said.

"And I came to make sure she wouldn't maim you," Luke said. When the girl shot a sideways glance at him, he shrunk back a bit, uncomfortable, but shrugged one shoulder; it was actually hard to tell if he was being serious, for how deadpan he had said it.  
>(The truth, not that Simon knew it, was that Andrea had dragged him out with her because it had sounded like Javermon, and she figured he'd have the most answers of anyone.)<p>

"Unless there's more than one giant dog stealing big glowy digicores," Egakumon said, looking over his shoulder, "then yeah, sounds about right."

"He was headed that-a-way," he said, pointing in the direction they had seen the Reaper go. "North... ish."

"Well," Rajamon said, flexing his paws in the sand, "it's better than wandering around lost for a week. Now, can we get back where we're _not_ standing in the middle of a sandstorm?" the tiger said, before spitting out a bit of sand that had found its way into his mouth, mumbling something about 'sandblasting my mouth' through grit teeth.

It was at that point that, in front of them, the sands began to shift- not a terrible amount, no, but enough for it to be visible, but it was clearly some sort of digimon unearthing themselves. The best bet they had was that it was a response to Javermon's call - the howl had been a signal that something, someone, was roaming about - but that thought was overridden by the fact that as the sand fell away, they realized that what was emerging out of the ground didn't stop at simply 'digimon'- they were tremendous spider-like digimon. Nine or ten of them.

Because of _course_ it was.

Golden, horned masks covered their faces, and coarse hair-like fibers lay on the parts of their bodies not covered by shiny black carapaces- and still more parts of their bodies were plain purplish skin of sorts. Shocks of red hair emerged from under their masks, and shorter arms - the first and foremost of their four pairs of limbs, all of which tipped with red claws and most encircled by a number of belts - were clenched into fists onto clumps of it alongside their faces, for some reason. Their shiny black abdomens were emblazoned with white skull and crossbones; not one for subtlety, clearly.

And what would a hostile digimon be without the D-GEAR diatribe?

_Dokugumon. Adult-level insectoid digimon. The computer viruses that course through its body lend kick to its Poison Thread and Poison Cobweb attacks._

"Only adult level, huh?" Rajamon remarked, and the other two digimon seemed to have the same idea. The kids' digivices didn't even get the chance to cool down and turn the light off before they began to glow again.

"Egakumon, kickstart digivolve to... Shokunimon!"  
>"Rajamon, kickstart digivolve to... Baghamon!"<br>"Sampamon, kickstart digivolve to... Serpemon!"

"Stomp them _into the dust_!" Andrea called, cupping her hands over her mouth, but her voice was drowned out by the sound around them.

The howling wind around them didn't really help with audibility, really.

"Come on," Luke said quickly, tugging on both of the other two humans' arms to get them out of the sandstorm and into the little alcove Simon had been standing in a short time ago.

Shokunimon moved so nimbly over the sand that he barely left marks in the sand as he rushed towards the spiders, one hand thrown up over his face to try and protect his eyes from the grit. Serpemon's body left deep grooves in the sand as she adopted a sidewinder style of movement, while Baghamon just plowed through with sheer willpower.

"**Tumble Kick**!" Shokunimon cried, leaping into a somersault before he smashed one of his clawed boots into the crown of the closest Dokugumon's head, bouncing off nimbly and springing off of the spider's abdomen as he jumped away.

This left the spider stunned; Baghamon darted around behind it, with a yell of: "**Fire Cyclone**!" His paws left trails of fire where he stepped, even in the sand, and ran in a tight circle to create a funnel of flame right behind the spider, but even that wasn't where the attack ended.

Serpemon, in front of the Dokugumon, opened her mouth, and gathered energy; for a split second, everything went grey, before she fired a blast of black energy with a cry of, "**Spectral Blast**!"

This had the effect of knocking the tremendous arachnid backwards into the tornado of fire that Baghamon was leaving behind; it let loose a truly unearthly gargling noise of pain, and surged its head around, its body skittering around to follow backwards. (It maaaay have not been terribly smart; after all, it had an enemy right in front of it, but the flames had come from behind, therefore...) The spider, feeling wronged, saw the rabbit and tiger darting over the sand, going for the next spider; with a clacking hiss, it said: "**Poison Cobweb**!"

Shokunimon was quick and Baghamon was no slouch, but when the Dokugumon they had turned their back on lifted its abdomen and fired therefrom a purplish net-like web, they were caught in it before they knew what was going on.

"Hey!" Shokunimon blurted, suddenly entangled in the web with the tiger alongside, and he held out his brush. "**Paint Blast**!" he cried, and the corrosive, multicoloured paint fired forth from his paintbrush, dissolving away some of the web, but they could feel it sapping away their strength, and the web quickly began to re-form itself- and the dokugumon around them were beginning to close in.

Serpemon, meanwhile, took advantage of her position- and once more fired an attack at the spider. "**Spectral Blast**!" the snake cried, and this one sent the shuffling Dokugumon flying forward- towards the two digimon encased in the web.  
>Shokunimon was preoccupied with trying to hold the spiders at bay with paint sprayed through the fibers of the web, but Baghamon was on alert- when the Dokugumon that got them into this mess was coming towards them at an alarming rate and, honestly, in a sort of projectile arc, he was on the ball.<p>

"**Tiger Gem**!" he called, wrenching himself to aim it as fiery energy gathered in his necklace before firing at Dokguumon. Before it even impacted the ground again, the attack hit it, and it dissolved into data and an egg in mid-air- and the web it had produced vanished with it.

Shokunimon, no longer in the constraints of the web, surged forward, and only barely had the time to move into position to kick the nearest spider in the face and ricochet off.

"Okay, so, this might be a little bit tricky," Shokunimon conceded, turning his head to look as the realization hit them that there were entirely too many of the things to deal with.

But that couldn't possibly be enough, could it?

From under the ground where the first Dokugumon's egg had landed, more sand began to shift. What emerged was not more Dokugumon- no, it was more like Dokugumon, shrunk down and simplified, and multiplied by a hundred. A veritable swarm of much smaller little spider-like insects appeared, almost as though the spider's spare data went to create them instead of returning immediately to Yggdrasil; their abdomens were striped in gold and burnt red, but aside from the lack of horns, no, they looked like miniature Dokugumon. Fantastic.  
>Back in the alcove, the D-GEAR units were quick on the draw.<p>

_KoDokugumon. Baby I level insect digimon. No attack data found; though they are low in level, their attack power is great, and they attack en masse to great effect._

If _en masse_ meant two dozen of them suddenly flooding out, yeah. Fantastic.

"**Fire Cyclone**!" Baghamon called, quickly darting over and leaping over, his paws trailing fire that fell to the ground; he quickly made a tight loop, and the flames erupted into a cyclone that whipped up most of the bugs and took care of them in flashes of light, but a few managed to scurry away and quickly threw themselves at Serpemon and Shokunimon. The D-GEAR reading the digimon couldn't hear was true; despite their small size, they were strong little buggers, and though they were dispelled by a throw or a kick or a writhe, the effects of their kamikaze attacks was not to be ignored, especially as it knocked the partner digimon towards the bigger, meaner spiders.

A Dokugumon was drawing uncomfortably close to Shokunimon, its jaws gaping open as it called its attack: "**Poison Thread**!" it clacked, and the rabbit could see purplish energy beginning to gather.

Cue the cavalry.

"**Fast Strike**!"

So cried a familiar voice before the raptor-like Velocimon was on the scene, smashing his skull-helmeted head into the side of Dokugumon's head, knocking the spider's aim off- and then some, as the dinosaur took advantage of the stunned spider to kick off of it with his large-clawed feet before hitting back down on the sand.

"Come on, that's no fair, you can't do this without us," said Faris' voice before his head popped around the lip of the alcove, a grin on his face. He held up one arm to protect his eyes and mouth from sand; right behind him were the other three children, and they wasted no time in worming their way in to get out of the sandstorm - and the maelstrom of battle around them.

Around them, the others were joining the fray- Ariamon appeared from a wisp of smoke and smashed her own skull into the side of a Dokugumon that was drawing in on Serpemon, while Kaizokumon rained down a rain of glowing bullets from a vantage point that seemed to be sitting higher up on the rocky crag. Shayumon twirled her body expertly and with one deft movement, used her glowing blade-like tailfin to slice straight through one Dokugumon's hard carapace.

"We figured that something might be going on, if you weren't back yet," Toby said, tugging at the hood bunched around his neck a bit nervously.

"Soooo we decided to see what was going on, going up, and going down," Emily continued.

"And a quick D-GEAR scan showed that you were still on the order of 20 feet away," Julian finished, shrugging.

Outside, they could see from the way that the data of the Dokugumon that Shayumon sliced dispersed that, yes, the KoDokugumon seemed to spawn from the excess data of the Dokugumon once the 'mother' was returned to an egg.  
>Meaning that Shayumon was now being swarmed by the little bugs, and she had to swipe with her claws and slice with her tail to dislodge them as they tried to gnaw parts of her body off, their venom weak but painful.<p>

"Annoying little things, yeom!" the shark exclaimed, snarling a bit with pain as she swiped the last ones away, while Baghamon helped clean up the area around her by stomping on strays, turning them to flashes of data under his paws.

Not far away, Velocimon smashed his head into another Dokugumon, knocking it onto its back; with its underside exposed, Shokunimon leapt into the air and smashed both of his clawed boots into it before springing off. When it dissolved into data and KoDokugumon, Velocimon swept his tail to throw them away, and - for good measure - Serpemon let loose another Spectral Blast, sending stragglers flying in bursts of light.

Ariamon and Velocimon led the efforts in the business of headbutting the spiders to flip them onto their backs, allowing Shokunimon and Kaizokumon to do the most damage with kicks, blasts of paint, and bullets that otherwise would not do much damage to the arachnids' exoskeletons. Shayumon's tailblade, Baghamon's fire, and Serpemon's blasts of energy cut through to the point right quick, and similarly made quick work of the ensuing floods of Kodokugumon.

Watching from the sidelines, the humans crammed into their little rock room were rooting loudly for their partners, cheering on their teammates (even when Toby looked away, as he was not particularly fond of spiders)- and, especially in the case of Simon, feeling a surge of _we can do this_. True, these were merely Adult-levels, but seeing the team work together, all seven of them, dividing and conquering, making short work of the creepy crawlies, was... heartening, in a way that was hard to explain.  
>Not that there was ever a doubt, but they all had each other's backs.<p>

And even though they weren't joined in Mega form, the kids could feel connected to their digimon, as though their support lent actual tangible power to their friends- and the connection ran both ways. The feeling was more acute than they ever could before they first Genesis digivolved together- whether the connection was strengthened itself, or their ability to sense it was more well-tuned was up in the air.

It was weird, to be sure, but it was a good sort of weird.

It wasn't long before, out in the whipping winds and sands, the last of the dokugumon was down for the count, seven versus one.  
>Or, rather, one versus one.<br>As they fought, they didn't even notice the wind starting to calm- bit by bit, very gradual.

"I got this," Shokunimon said, twirling his paintbrush, and none of the other digimon were willing to argue- though they were tense and prepared to help their ally, they would grant him this.

"**Poison Thread**!" the final Dokugumon said in its clicky, clacky voice, opening its mouth and releasing a spray of purplish thread that functioned more like a spray of energy than true thread.

Shokunimon, in response, leapt out of the way, and as he fell back down, he stuck one foot out and it began to glow as he somersaulted through the air. "**Tumble Kick**!"

His foot impacted on Dokugumon's abdomen, dead-center on the skull and crossbones, and the spider cried out in indignation. The rabbit bounced off to be standing behind the spider, and Dokugumon followed the bait and turned around, away from the others.

"**Poison Cobweb**!" Dokugumon hissed, lifting its abdomen to fire another net-like web at the rabbit like its ally had done at the start of the scuffle.

"**Paint Blast**!" Shokunimon countered, allowing the ... well, _blast of paint_... to disintegrate the web headed at him, allowing him to throw himself through the hole created before the web began to reconstruct itself. Much more fun than simply leaping over it. He repeated the attack once he was closer to the spider, causing Dokugumon to rear up into its hindmost legs, blinded.

And that was all it took- one more surge forward and a tumble to make the name of his Tumble Kick appropriate, Shokunimon drove one glowing foot into the spider's underside, causing it to go up in a blast of energy.

Before he could try and deal with the KoDokugumon resulting from this, Velocimon surged forward, bowing his head and lifting the rabbit up onto his back immediately; Baghamon was in hot pursuit (pun definitely intended), and quickly kicked up a Fire Cyclone to swat the bugs once and for all.

"That," Shokunimon said, once Velocimon circled back around to the group of digimon, "was awesome."

"Well, you know, from an objective perspective," Kaizokumon said, and then chuckled. "... ... it rather was, aye."

With swirls of light surrounding them, the seven digimon returned to their Child forms- and the wind, by this time, had died down enough for the human partners to run out and be alongside their digimon allies.

"Rad work, bro," Simon said, kneeling to give a fist-bump to Egakumon on his level.

"I never want to see another spider," Toby mumbled, but smiled as Lammon nuzzled up against his leg.

Luke smiled faintly, but said nothing, as he lifted Sampamon up onto his shoulders. The snake, instead, spoke up. "Perhaps the threat posed is less than we thought." She went quiet after that and refused to explain, but her meaning was clear enough.

"So... Javermon went that way," Simon said after a while, while the digimon wound down from their battle, pointing the direction they had seen the dog head.

"Let's get a move on it, then," Kamomon said.

Nobody saw fit to word it more extravagantly; a move on it, they got. Though they had no clue what was ahead, they had a newfound feeling- despite it all, they could do this.  
>At the very least, they figured they had a chance.<p> 


	43. Chapter 43: Brothers in Arms

_A/N: Ack, sorry this took so long. Some weird stuff's been going on, but... we're here! Don't worry, we're not as close to the end as it may seem~ ... or maybe you should worry. Tee hee. Anyhoo! Enjoy._

* * *

><p>"<strong>Needle Cannon<strong>!" HebiDramon cried, rearing down and digging her claws into the sand, as the hairs on her back stiffened, before being shot out rapid-fire. They were aimed at a digimon the group was currently found themselves wrapped up in fighting- a tremendous skeletal scorpion, by the does-just-what-it-says-on-the-tin name of SkullScorpiomon.  
>The kids (and non-combatant digimon) were staying back, huddled down in a rock alcove, to avoid being shuffled or swept away; they were against what seemed like the tip of a mostly-buried cliff, dotted with little alcoves and caves and other such nooks and crannies.<p>

Despite the lack of flesh on SkullScorpiomon for the dragon's needle-like hairs to sink into, they quickly dissolved into paradoxically black light that was absorbed into the skeleton's bones.

The beast let loose a roar and swung out with its massive blade-tipped tail. "**Poison Pierce**!" it rasped, but its movements were slowed and dulled by the dark energy from the snake-dragon's attack to the point where it was easy to avoid. it had a flaming cat to attend to, leaping at its face with paws ablaze.

"**Bagha Comet**!" BurningBaghamon roared, the crackling flames that perpetually licked at his front feet burning bright and rearing higher as they engulfed his entire front half. The tiger smashed paws-first into SkullScorpiomon's face, pushing him back; they could hear the scorpion's bones creak as they resisted collapse.

"**Blackout**!" SkullScorpiomon retaliated, and from the aether it summoned a heavy black fog; the fighters found that it stole away their sight, shrouding their eyes in darkness.  
>Except for the third (and final) of the partner digimon engaged in battle with the beast, for he was too tall for the fog to reach him, when both heads were craned high.<p>

"**Twin Flare**!" Triassimon's twin heads growled, as their mouths opened to spill blue and red flames into the air, aimed at the hostile digimon. The streams met and turned blinding white for only an instant before impacting SkullScorpiomon- and by the time the light of the flames dissipated, it replaced by SkullScorpiomon's body becoming a swirling mass of data that shot into the clouds, cutting a vivid streak across the dark and stormy skies.

"You can only buy so much time," the skeletal arachnid rattled out in a breathy voice before it was gone- and then an egg fell to the ground, nestled in the purplish sand.

As it quieted down, the only sound being the howl of wind in the distance, BurningBaghamon growled low. "I'm getting tired of all these digimon with attitude problems," the giant cat rumbled.

"Yes, we have more than enough attitude with only you around," Triassimon's red-haired head said coolly. When BurningBaghamon turned to look at the dual-headed dinosaur, both of the reptile's faces were calm and collected- but there was just a hint of a smirk on the blue head's lips. The cat responded by scoffing, before all three Perfect-levels returned to their default forms in a quick flash of light. Tiger, dinosaur, and snake alike were quick in returning to their partners' sides.

It was two days they had spent in the Barren Lands - two nights spent huddled in craggy caves and on constant alert - and it was fast coming on a third. Nearly three full days of sand, wind, and no shortage of digimon out to rip their faces off (or, rather, some out to rip their faces off, and some merely out to _stall_ them, but in the heat of battle the distinction wasn't exactly something on the forefront of anyone's mind). Needless to say, tension ran high.

"It's getting too late to do much," Toby said, looking out and up to the sky; it was beginning to darken (well, darker than it usually was, at any rate), and the less light they had, the probability of them straying off-path approached one. Straying off-path would mean getting lost - in the dark, mind - and attacked or (more likely) ambushed. In other words: staying active was a grade-A Bad Idea.

"I don't know how much more of this I'm gonna be able to take," Emily said, sitting on the ground with her back to the wall of the little alcove, and she pushed against it to get herself to her feet. "I mean the whole... _on the doorstep of the enemy_ thing, not the _waking up every morning with a mouthful of sand_ thing, though I'm not terribly fond of that either."

"Seconded," Faris groaned, stretching out and craning his neck to peer out of their little hiding place. This little alcove was hardly enough to comfortably shelter all fourteen of them for a night - it'd be hard-pressed to house even half of them without feeling cramped - but it was hardly the only little cave lining the wall of rock. "Any input on how close we are?" he said, then, turning to look at his older brother.

Julian was standing near the back of the alcove, looking down at his D-GEAR unit. The projected map was up, illuminating his face with blue light; the map on the digivices, with its lack of scale and occasionally rough sense of positioning, was their only guide. The first night - not long after the Dokguumon swarm - Luke had told them that Era's stronghold was all but dead in the heart of the area. Julian was making some quick estimates, between where they were now and, a general idea of the center of the area (as best he could tell, with no discernible borders on the map image to facilitate this effort), and where they had come into the Barren Lands.

After a moment, the eldest boy spoke, but did not look up. "Assuming that the winds don't act up more than usual, we stay on-course the entire time, that we leave at sunrise, and that I'm anywhere near correct in my guess of where he is, we should reach Era by tomorrow by sundown."

"In other words, if everything goes according to plan," Faris drawled, running a hand backwards through his hair.

"Which it never does, yeom," Delfinimon provided.

"We'll make it, whether it does or doesn't," Andrea said, definitively. Rajamon tilted his head up at her, expression inquisitive. "If we're going to get that close, then stopping would make us even more of sitting ducks than we are. We don't know what's going to happen."

"Or how long it's going to last that we have... protection, from being killed," Luke added.

"We're going to need a plan," Kamomon said, stroking his beak thoughtfully. "We can't run in blind."

Human and digimon alike nodded, and then twelve pairs of eyes turned to look at Julian and Iguamon as though on-cue. In equal measure, both boy and dinosaur raised a brow.

"What?" Julian said.

"Don't play all unawares," Simon said, grinning lopsidedly. "We're lookin' for a plan, and you're our man."

"That rhymed, yeom~" Delfinimon piped up from within Faris' arms with a giggle, but she was much lost under the sound of Julian breathing out heavily.

"You're asking me to come up with a plan for something when we have no idea what we're up against. Even if members of our number," Julian said, and Luke shifted, "could tell us about the stronghold itself, we have no idea what it is that he's planning, or what he's using the cores of the sovereigns for. That's not feasible. I'm not psychic."

Iguamon bowed his head. "We are the Warrior of Adaptability, not of precognition."

"That said," Julian said, before silence could set in, "we can prepare ourselves with educated guesses. If he just wanted to take the Sovereigns out, then he likely wouldn't have taken the cores. If he's _using_ the cores of the sovereigns, it is likely as a power source for something."

"It wouldn't surprise us," Sampamon said. "A digicore, particularly an extraordinary one, houses great amounts of power."

Her reasoning was sound. Though much of the team was not given details about the incident that the snake and her partner had in the Dark Woods, an extraordinary core _had_ been the difference between the Forbidramon that six perfect-levels could not defeat, and the Forbidramon that was defeated by one perfect-level alone, after all.

* * *

><p>"They're close, then?" Era said, adjusting his glasses with one hand. In the other, he held the glowing orb that Javermon had delivered at his fingertips, turning it slowly to look at it and make sure it was what he was expecting.<p>

"Further than I'd expect of them" Javermon answered, his eyes flicking to the _thing_ on the pedestal astride the man. It was pulsating, now, an ever-shifting mass of Data; in the heart of the swirling light, he could see a symbol, the sigil of one of the children's virtues, glowing faintly, as though it were weak and dying. "I did as you said."  
>He had been directed by Era to, in fact, defy his first instinct- to throw the children off of his trail. No, Era told him - quite explicitly- to lead the children to his doorstep. He did not question it; he only hoped it mean that he would soon see the day that he could rip them apart.<p>

"Lead them tomorrow- make sure they reach here," Era said, throwing Javermon out of his reverie. The canine looked up, and set his jaw. Whatever Era asked of him, he would do. "But take your time- tomorrow, at nightfall, should suffice. No sooner. Once they are here," the man continued, sounding nearly bored, "the digimon are free game. The children are not, until I say so. Am I understood?"  
>Javermon, meanwhile, could not have been happier. His face split into a nasty grin, teeth sharp and eyes glistening.<p>

"Yes, Lord Era, sir," the dog said, and wasted no time- with a flourish of his cape, he left Era's chamber and set off for his own roost to bide his time until he set off.  
>He'd have no trouble finding them, of course- <em>nothing<em> escaped him.

"... idiot," Era hissed under his breath once all traces of the Reaper were gone. A vicious, bloodthirsty idiot; not wholly dissimilar when compared with, well, the entirety of the Digital world's population, as far as he was concerned. He buried that emotion, though, looking at the core he held, feeling the pulsing energy that bathed his fingertips in warmth.  
>This was it; he needed nothing more but time, and not much of that. The hours were numbered until it would all fall into place.<p>

It was all downhill from here.

Era smirked, his eyes gleaming behind his glasses; he ran his free hand backwards through his hair. He had work to do.

"Prepare yourself," he murmured to nobody in particular, leaning back to look up at the ceiling, obscured as it was by dark shadows. Soon, he would be rid of this world, and the last- the worlds that had so wronged him, filled with mindless beasts so convinced of their own sapience.

* * *

><p>"... trust us when we say," Sampamon said, speaking of Era's stronghold, "it's not going to be hard to find it. If we are anywhere near it, we will see it." The group was sitting in a semi-circle, rather cramped in their little alcove but not yet readdy to move.<p>

"So then we can focus our planning on the getting-in part," Egakumon said, tapping a claw to his snout thoughtfully. "... it's possible to get in, right?"

"Yes," Sampamon said. "Though the only door is guarded, and crystal protects all of its other faces from entry."

There was a momentary pause. "So, it's guarded by digimon, then?" Julian said.

"A tremendous number," Luke confirmed, with a nod.

"It's probably going to be for the better, then, if we try not to fight _all_ of them," Toby said. "Uhm... we just need to get through, right? We don't want to get in, and then have nothing left to fight with."

"Right," Rajamon said. "Especially because I'll bet my tail that Javermon is going to be waiting for us."

"Then we'll have to be in Mega form on the approach," Kamomon reasoned, then quickly amended himself with a look at Sampamon and Luke. "Those of us that can. Though Delfinimon and I aren't really built for maneuverability into tight spaces, we're a mite hefty in Mega form..."

"We can clear the area," Emily said, looking sidelong at Faris; he smiled and nodded, "so that you guys can get in without being, like, dogpiled."

"And if you guys can't get in after us?" Julian said, sudden, sharp, raising an eyebrow. He was looking particularly at Faris when he said it.

"... we'll be fine," the younger brother dismissed, shrugging one shoulder. "We're a shark the size of a schoolbus and a bird the size of a commercial jet."

"I'm pretty sure we can bash enough heads to clear the area long enough for us to shrink back down and get in, yeom~!" the dolphin of their number chirruped, waving her fins around cheerfully as she flopped backwards onto Faris' lap. Julian pressed his lips thin, but kept his face impassive and said nothing.

There was a moment's pause, before Andrea broke the silence. "So if they're holding them off," she said, jerking a thumb at Faris and Emily, "then it'll be up to Toby, Julian, boy-scout and myself to take care of Javermon, if he's there." Pause again, and she looked at Luke and Sampamon. "No offense. You just, you know. Can't reach Mega yet."

"None taken," both boy and snake said as one. They were merely glad to be of use- tremendous use, actually, as the only agents on the team with _any_ first-hand knowledge of what they were headed into.

"So," Simon said, interrupting. "Any more input on the layout?"

And so it went- they debated battle tactics and plans; Luke and Sampamon shared what knowledge they could about Era, his stronghold, and his security measures. Julian laid out a few battle plans and possible configurations of the order of events, though he was the first to admit he was working on pure speculation here, and that just as likely as anything working out, they would end up in a madcap flurry where the goal would simply be 'try not to hit anyone on your side'.  
>Simon, Andrea, and Julian butted heads more than once over how to approach Era himself (like <em>big dang heroes<em>, with as little ceremony and as much raw power as possible, with cool heads and attempts at diplomacy?), while the other four kids and their digital companions could merely watch in confused awe.

Faris in particular remained rather quiet in general, really, sitting with knees pulled to his chest (once he evacuated Delfinimon from his lap) and eyes flitting between speakers. Both dolphin and dinosaur took note of this, but said nothing.

* * *

><p>Some time later, they finally reached as close to a consensus as they would end up reaching. They dispersed into three small groups- Simon, Luke, and Toby (plus their respective digimon) stayed in the small cave their little conference had been in; Andrea and Emily clambered their way up a sand dune to a cavity in the rock a few yards down the wall in one direction; Julian and Faris, to another, in the opposite direction.<p>

"Why were you so quiet, Far'?" Julian asked once they had sat down in the little alcove. His voice was a bit more relaxed than it was amongst the group.

And it was driving Faris up the wall. He didn't let it show, and affected a cheerful tone before saying, "I was thinking about stuff. Couldn't you smell the smoke?"

"It's not like you," his older brother said, quirking an eyebrow. "You didn't have one smart remark to make, even through Andrea's _punch his face until he bleeds_ proposition." The girl had made said suggestion in full jest, rolling her eyes and voice dripping with sarcasm; it was Faris' natural habitat in terms of conversation, in other words.

"What, the thinking? Yeah, I know," Faris replied, smirking.

"As entertaining as I find your beating around the bush," Julian said (and - for a bit of irony of which he was surely aware - his face was as stoic and unamused) as ever, "you're avoiding reaching a point."

Delfinimon and Iguamon stood to the side, occasionally exchanging glances but keeping close-mouthed.

Faris, meanwhile, was just bubbling over- inside. He tried to keep his face even, but it was met with mixed success.

"You could try being up-front yourself, you know, Faris- yeom," Delfinimon said quietly, lolloping over and nudging her partner in the leg with her nose.

For a moment, the only sound was the noise of the wind picking up and, from a ways down, Simon hatching some ridiculous theory or idea, to the great amusement of Luke and Toby.

Faris was lost in thought when Julian began to speak again. "You know, you've been hinting at being angry with me for a while. I mean, you're my little brother, so of course you're going to hate me from time to time, but."  
>Both brothers' minds turned to the same thing- one time, when Faris was freshly-turned five and Julian was seven, they had gotten into an argument over a game they had been playing. Faris had gotten upset, and angrily told Julian that he was going to hate him for the rest of his life. He did a pretty good job of it, too, by little kid standards- he refused to speak to his older brother for two whole days. (Hey, it was a long time for a little kid.) There had been no formal apology- the brothers just sat down alongside one another and sat in an awkward silence until Julian suggested playing a video game together. All was well.<p>

It hadn't even been a week later that their parents broke the news to them about the divorce.

For the remainder of the time they had together, Julian and Faris - at the elder's insistence - were nigh inseparable; but all too soon, their father took Faris and left.

"How's mom doing?" Faris said suddenly, and from the way he reacted to himself, it was blurted out- not entirely thought-through before he spoke.  
>Delfinimon slapped a fin to her forehead. Why couldn't he make this easier? Iguamon, though, reached over and placed a claw over the fin that was on the ground- when she looked at him, the dinosaur shook his head.<p>

"This is how they do things," Iguamon said in a hushed tone.

Julian paused. It wasn't odd of Faris to ask- he'd ask whenever they met up, since their mother and father did not part on the most amicable of terms, and things were rocky between them. Their mother tended to drop Julian off, and then do her own thing around the city for a few days, avoiding their father as much as she feasibly could. She viewed any interaction with their father, Julian got the impression, as a sort of unpleasant chore that had to be done a couple times a year for the sake of her sons.  
>Or, well, two of her sons, at any rate.<br>(Julian cringed a bit as that thought struck him.)

"She's... fine. She gets by."

"She's still with Mike, yeah?" Faris said, smiling faintly. Mike - Michael, but neither Faris nor Julian ever actually called him anything but 'Mike' - was their mother's new husband, and the reason for Julian's (and, by extension, their mother's) differing last name. Faris had never actually met him, and Julian's reaction to being asked about him was usually a shrug and an _eh, he's okay_. Julian nodded, shrugging, and moving himself so he was sitting with his back to the wall.

"He hasn't tried to run off with our stuff, yet, at least, so there's that. ... well, at least, I think he hasn't."

Faris quirked an eyebrow, then smirked. "You can joke? Colour me surprised." His brother smirked back. Faris, himself, leaned against the opposite wall, and chewed the inside of his mouth pensively. He was fidgeting; clearly, there were things he wanted to say. The body language didn't go unnoticed, but Julian said nothing, merely raising an eyebrow of his own. It again fell silent; Iguamon, to the side, actually had to clap a claw-gloved hand over Delfinimon's mouth (or rather, around her bottlenose snout) to keep her mouth shut.  
>"So... how about Seth?" Faris said after a heavy silence punctuated by howling wind, and the howling of the wind was the only thing to be heard for quite a time after, and Faris was looking pointedly at the floor. When he looked up again, he saw his elder brother doing much the same thing, flexing his fingers in the dust silently.<br>After a moment or two of awkward silence, Faris mumbled: "Hey. Uh- forget it-"

"No!" Delfinimon yelped, forcing her mouth open and slapping Iguamon's claws away. At the exact same time, Julian said the same- though in a much more subdued tone of voice. The elder boy turned to look at the dolphin, and blinked; she continued. "You're not going back on this, yeom!"

"I think she wants us to talk about it," Julian said, eyelids sliding halfway down. He looked to Iguamon; the dinosaur nodded once, silent, and - without looking to his brother - Julian sighed, closed his eyes, and spoke. "So, you know, then?"

"Overheard a couple of the digimon back right before the whole... SkullSatamon mess," Faris mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. (Delfinimon squeaked a defiant '_I knew it!_', but only got half-way before Iguamon once more clasped a hand around her snout to silence her, leading to her outburst coming out as more of _I knemfpfpmmf_.) He paused for a moment, searching his brother's face. "Why the secret?"

Julian looked up at Faris for the first time since he posed the initial question. Now there was a doozy of a question. Why? Well, he couldn't just come out with what he knew was the real reasoning, could he? It wasn't even anything to do with the digital world, or anything of the sort.  
>It was just that <em>I don't like that we have a half-brother, because I just want everything to go back to the way it was, and he's living proof that it never will<em> was... contrary, to say the least, to the spirit of his Virtue, and... well, Julian was not the emoting sort.

When his older brother did not respond, Faris sighed, but it was an understanding sigh. "It's okay. You don't have to explain, I just... I don't get it." The corner of his mouth tugged into a half-grimace. "I wish I had a brother I actually lived with, or at least, _something_."

"What?" Julian said, his eyebrows shooting up.

Faris gave a dejected sort of lopsided smile. "I heard them say, when I overheard about it... Shorty reminds you of whatshisname, Seth, right? And I don't get why that's a bad thing. When we go home - it's gonna go back to normal, you know?" He folded his arms and sighed. "Toby reminds you of Seth, so it's not like that's changed. You get to keep being that big brother figure, you know? I go home, and all I have is my computer and some faceless goons on the internet." Pause, and a look over to Delfinimon and Iguamon. "As opposed, that is, to monsters with faces made of data that may or may not be on the internet, I'm still not sure I get the whole digital world thing..."  
>Iguamon smirked just faintly, and Delfinimon gave an appreciative 'hmrphp', even with her mouth held shut.<br>Faris cleared his throat and shrugged. "I just... You've got something, when you go back. I don't want things to just go back to normal, you know?"

But Julian didn't know; Julian had been wishing things would go back to normal for seven years.

"No, I don't," he admitted, and Faris looked at him, expression incredulous. "No, I mean- I _do_ know what you mean. You don't want to go home, after... all of this. I don't, either. Not after everything that's happened- I don't know if I can. I get it. I don't want to leave them, either," he said, and looked to the digimon standing aside, and somewhere deep within he felt a pang of pain. "But Far', you don't know how much I just want things to go _back to normal_. _That's_ why I didn't tell you about _hey, we have a half brother_, okay?"  
>His voice was getting more heated the more he spoke; it sounded like it was literally breaking through, the emotions cracking his stoic veneer and forcing their way out. He breathed out heavily.<p>

It took a moment for it to register in Faris' head, but he sighed and lowered his eyes. Outside, the last natural light was long gone; the wind howled.  
>Faris said nothing for a long time, before: "I- that makes sense, I guess. I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head.<p>

"Don't," Julian said, quickly, a bit more loudly than he maybe needed to.

"Well, no. See... I know, you were older than me. I don't know if I was really old enough to... you know, get it. So that's always been my normal." He paused, and thought hard for a moment. "... but I sure as heck understand what's going on here." He looked to Delfinimon, who looked at him and beamed, though he could sense a sort of sadness.  
>The digimon were going to <em>die<em>. The past days had felt like they were going in slow-motion as he - really, all of them - tried to process this idea.  
>This wasn't <em>fair<em>, and Faris felt like he could scream.  
>He didn't know what he was expecting- he knew, on some level, that it would have to end, once Era was taken care of. But... he never realized it would have been so permanent.<p>

He let out a breath, and if he were feeling particularly honest he might have said later that it was like a half-choked sob, forced back and held down. "This sucks, Julian."

"But what can we do about it?" Julian said after a moment. He didn't speak with malice or and sort of harshness; merely a quiet resignation.

Faris paused, and looked out into the darkness.  
>"I have <em>no<em> freakin' clue."

Again, a short silence followed, but it felt less... heavy. What could they do? Not much, but go ahead and fight Era- but simply saying it made it feel less threatening. There were some things that sucked, some things that were out of their control, but it was what they made of them, after all.

"We do not know the affairs of humans," Iguamon said, suddenly. "But speaking simply from what we have seen..."

"You've all grown up a lot since we met you, yeom," Delfinimon said, once the dinosaur released her snout.

Julian laughed a short, breathy laugh. "We can't say you're not to blame for it, though," he said, and Iguamon moved to sit astride him.

"If we can provide a service such as that," Iguamon reasoned, "then clearly, we have a reason for being alongside you, beyond simple battle strategy on the part of the Sovereigns."

It was a good note to end on. They sat in silence for a while; before long, they were drifting off, tired and exhausted and amped up for the morning all at once. It was in his final moments of lucidity that a thought hit Faris.  
>Things were never going to go back to normal, after this- even when the Digimon were gone, and he tried to shake the thought that <em>it would be sooner rather than later<em> on that front. Even without the digimon, they were... well, friends. All of them were. A bit ragtag, a bit odd, and yes, they fought amongst themselves.  
>Friends - maybe even a family of sorts, of certain definitions- forged by the fire of wandering this world together.<p>

What a weird family.

And yet for Faris (and, though they may not have words for it, and though Faris himself may not know it much of the rest of their ragtag team), it was a good feeling.  
>From Simon - who felt trapped, alienated, and wholly apart from the real world around him- to Toby, who felt suffocated and stunted, unable to stand on his own two feet; from Andrea, who had a more permanent loss than even Faris or Julian knew that haunted her mind and her family, to Emily, who felt invisible and alone, lost in a stormy sea; and as for Luke... well, that was an issue for another day.<p>

This world, full of danger and suspense and monsters and living day to day - it felt more like home to all seven children than anything any of them had ever felt. Though they had known each other for so short a time, this rag-tag group of misfit kids felt bonds, to both their monster partners and to eachother, as strong as anything.

* * *

><p>"Up and at 'em! It's <em>go time<em>!"  
>As he ran up to the little alcove the girls were dozing in, and then bounding down to awaken the brothers in he same manner, Egakumon's voice was loud enough to raise the dead. The children and digimon were not, however, dead, and so woke up quite readily- but for once, nobody woke grumpy or resentful of their rabbit-esque alarm clock. Most of them had slept lightly, mind awash in battle plans and a sort of excitement crossed with dread. The sun was only a short distance into the sky, and as the clouds were thinner near the horizon, it was surprisingly bright- though still, of course, marred by the constant swirling storm of clouds above.<p>

As they began to set off into the sands once more, none of them noticed - nor had any reason to look for - the form of Javermon sitting atop the exposed tip of the buried cliff, watching with narrowed eyes. The Reaper clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to dissipate some of the energy.  
><em>Impatient<em> was not the word.  
>And after all, he didn't have to contend with Epidemon or PicoDaemon; he could deal with that. More for him.<p>

The canine rumbled with barely-contained laughter.

* * *

><p>The day went in slow motion; everyone's heads buzzed with the rhythm of waiting and movement, avoiding conflict (so as to save energy), but making the most of what time they could use to cover ground. It was a long day, and much of it passed in relative silence, each child and digimon lost in his or her own mind. It was when the sun was beginning to drift to the west that they caught a glimpse of their destination, peeking over the horizon and growing ever closer- but it was dark, poorly silhouetted against the dark sky, and so they had to draw closer to truly see it.<br>And though it too much of the day, it felt all too soon that the seven children and their seven digimon partners were standing on another mostly-buried cliff. The sun was drifting lower and lower, beyond a vast expanse of nothingness to the west.

Imagine, if you will, a _tremendous_, ornate cathedral, its towers reaching to the sky; then imagine that centuries ground it down, breaking it apart and turning it into a shadow of what it once was; then, furthermore, imagine that it had been rebuild, repurposed, by someone with entirely different intentions than its builders.  
>Some unseen force was holding parts that should have fallen down in place- the upper half of one of its (many) spires outright floated, disconnected from the rest of the structure. Its outside was covered in its entirety by crystal, not unlike that they had seen in the cave under the mountain or that comprised Wisemon's stronghold castle. In places, it stuck out at angles; sometimes, it replaced walls, others it merely reinforced them. It glowed only faintly, pulsating with a gentle light. Unlike the blue they had seen, its crystal was violet-red, though perhaps it was merely reflecting the colours around it that led to that appearance.<p>

Of course, that was merely part of the package. The half-wrecked, re-formed cathedral was not the only unusual thing about the stronghold; the entire structure appeared to be suspended on a mass of ground separated from the rest, floating a few hundred feet out into the air, floating over a black ocean-like abyss- much like the one that they had seen beyond the cliff when they entered this Area. On the underside of the small island, a tremendous inverted pyramid was affixed. It was not quite the same as the crystal coating the outside of the cathedral, or at least it did not look it; it reminded them more acutely of the crystalline pyramid that was fixed to the underside of the Floating Ruins, though vastly smaller.

And then it was silent. The abyss churned below, and the clouds stirred above, but the wind had died down, leaving them to look. It was quiet and calm. They knew - all of them did - that it would not last.

Emily broke the silence. "_Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more_," she quoted, fidgeting a bit with the pocket on the front of her overalls.

Before they could say anything more - or even prepare for battle - their suspicions of the silence not lasting were proved true. An ear-piercing howl rang in their ears, and they whipped around just in time. There, coming up the slope behind them, was Javermon. He slowly padded his way up, not in any rush; the children were _tense_, their D-GEARs held in hand, every digimon prepared to fight.

"I've waited a very long time for this," the dog said, lips curled into half a snarl and half a smile.

If they dared look (and they did not dare, but they could hear it well enough), below them - the land between them and the floating island suddenly erupted with life, digimon of every size and shape and level- ones that flew, ones that rose up from the shadowy depths, ones that rose from the ground. They were stuck here on this cliff- Javermon in front of them and an army behind, and the dog didn't feel like wasting time.

"**BLOOD OATH**!" Javermon _screamed_ as though the sound were torn from his throat, slashing glowing-red claws through the air as he surged forward.


	44. Chapter 44: Show Me Your Colours

Javermon's attack, while spirited, was perhaps overenthusiastic, and only the tip of his light-cloaked claws managed to hit anyone.

To the surprise of a resounding _nobody_, it was Egakumon they hit, who threw himself forward the moment he realized the dog was going to attack. It was only dumb luck and timing that kept the rabbit from taking the brunt of the attack. He was tossed backwards; Simon was quick to catch him, almost stumbling backwards over the buried cliff-tip in the process. It was perhaps a ten-foot drop to level ground- and more than enough digimon raring for a fight on the flat ground below.

Okay.  
>This wasn't something they accounted for, exactly, but they had enough to go off of.<p>

Toby was the first to act, his D-GEAR igniting in white light that engulfed both him and his sheep partner.

"Lammon, genesis digivolve to..." and the light of the digivolution made Javermon snarl and recoil, covering his eyes, "MagnaAriamon!"

Javermon growled, raising his hand back once more. Red light bathed his hands, but the sheep was faster.

"**Blood Oa-**!"

"**Shining Break**!" MagnaAriamon called, swiftly tracing a large circle in the air in front of her with the tip of her staff. Immediately, a sphere of golden light surrounded her and the non-digivolved children and digimon. When Javermon brought his claws down, they hit the swirling orb and stopped dead, the red light seeping into the gold and dissipating immediately.

"I won't be able to hold this forever," MagnaAriamon said, quiet; indeed, she was having to focus a great deal of energy to keep the group encircled by her light.

"Got it," Simon said, taking his D-GEAR in hand, and on either side of him, Julian and Andrea were doing the same as the devices began to glow.

"Egakumon, genesis digivolve to... Kisekimon!"  
>"Rajamon, genesis digivolve to... ImperialBaghamon!"<br>"Iguamon, genesis digivolve to... WarTriassimon!"

In a flash of light, three megas took the place of three pairs of digimon and human; MagnaAriamon dropped her shield, and took her staff in both hands. In a moment's time, Kisekimon was locking his twin swords with the metal claws that served as Javermon's weapons.  
>This didn't last long- Javermon managed to push him back, fueled by adrenaline and blind hatred. When ImperialBaghamon and WarTriassimon moved to step in, Kisekimon quickly threw his arms out, his swords barring the other two from stepping forward. "I'll hold him back. Take care of the others first."<p>

"What?" ImperialBaghamon rumbled, but didn't get an answer- Kisekimon surged forward, crossing his blades as they began to glow white.

"**Double Blader**!"

Once more, Javermon locked claws with the twin swords, snarling; WarTriassimon paused for a moment, before he turned. It was the plan- if Javermon and the small army appeared at the same time, then they needed to clear the battlefield first. Simon and Egakumon had volunteered to hold Javermon back for long enough to let them cut Era's other defenses back a bit.  
>"Come on," the dinosaur said, and without any ceremony launched himself, spear gripped tight, down and into the small army of digimon laying between them and Era's stronghold. ImperialBaghamon growled, but with a flash of fire, his four curved blades materialized in his hands and he followed, charging into the mob with a savage roar.<p>

"I'm gonna guess that's our signal," Faris said; Emily nodded, and both of them were quick to pull their D-GEARs out.

Though it was a bit of a shuffle, two flashes of light later...

"Delfinimon, genesis digivolve to... Galeomon!"

"Kamomon, genesis digivolve to... Rocmon!"

And then a tremendous shark was barreling her way straight into the horde of hostile digimon, and a huge bird was rising, with a loud keen, into the sky.

"Will you be okay?" MagnaAriamon whispered quickly. If her eyes were open, she would have been glancing sidelong at Luke and Sampamon, the only ones left unevolved.

"We've got... some semblance to a plan. We'll be fine," the boy responded, looking at his D-GEAR as it began to glow in its turn; he nodded to Sampamon, on the ground beside him. In her turn, the black snake began to glow brightly, bathed in light from the device.

"Sampamon, kickstart digivolve to... Serpemon!" Not a beat passed - the light didn't even fade - before she began to change form again, hit by a burst of light from Luke's D-GEAR. "Serpemon, virtuous digivolve to... HebiDramon!"  
>Luke immediately hoisted himself onto the dragon's back, and HebiDramon took off like a shot into the mob, her partner holding tight to her mane to keep steady. Finally, MagnaAriamon dropped her shield of light.<p>

Not fifteen feet away from her, a chorus of voices - 'Blood Oath' and 'Nova Blade' cried in cadence, flashes of red and white, metal hitting metal in a clashing beat; she breathed out heavily, and turned to aid her allies in the fray.  
>After all, there was no shortage of digimon to be taken care of in the meantime.<p>

The battlefield was a flurry of light - attacks, weaker digimon being picked off en masse only to be replaced moments later by allies. It was almost hard to concentrate in the midst of it.

"I can't stand it," Andrea (or perhaps it was more accurate to say Andrea's essence, her consciousness) said within ImperialBaghamon, and all four of the cat's fists clenched. "He's using them as living shields."

_He does not care if they live or if they die,_ the cat concurred, and there was pure anger in his voice (or, 'voice'). _Era is a coward._ "**God Fist**!" ImperialBaghamon roared aloud, thrusting all four of his fists forward to cast a burning aura out at his targets. Even as he spoke, embers flew from his mouth- perhaps they were the physical form of the anger boiling in his body.

"As though we had any doubt," Andrea's voice mumbled as, in front of them, two digimon - two adult levels that they recognized as a pair of Ankylomon - were turned to data, their eggs dropping to the sand.

_Their lives will not be in vain- when they live once more, it will be in a free digital world,_ ImperialBaghamon's voice reassured her. He did not notice a digimon coming at him from behind, a tremendous suit of armor brandishing a great golden sword; a Knightmon, if they could hear the mysterious, disembodied voice of their D-GEAR units over the fray.

"**Berserk Sword**!" the Knightmon cried, raising its sword and bringing it down at ImperialBaghamon's back; the blow caused the lion to stumble forward with a roar of pain.

"**Radiant Lance**!" MagnaAriamon cried from above, before the cat could turn; the ephemeral wings behind her back had grown, and she was floating in place. Her staff struck true, a glowing lance of light that pierced straight through Knightmon's armor, stopping it in its tracks and sending it up in data.

"**Dragon Reaper**!" cried the voice of HebiDramon from not far away, as she - even with Luke riding on her back - threw herself full-force at a dragon-like digimon covered in green scales, with another set of full-fledged arms in place of true wings- a Groundramon. HebiDramon herself was covered by a jet-black aura with red eyes, taking a form reminiscent of a Chinese dragon. She smashed herself into it and the aura dissipated- as did the Groundramon, with a roar of pain and a flash of light.

"Good work," ImperialBaghamon huffed, with a grin on his face, "for a perfect-level."

"I have my gifts," HebiDramon replied, tossing her head a bit proudly, but there was no time to gloat- she thrashed her tail to throw off an attacking swarm of child-level dragons, and had to resume movement before she was attacked further, unwilling to endanger her partner. She wove in and out of the battle, striking strategically and taking out smaller threats.

From above, Rocmon rained down vicious hailstorms onto large groups of digimon with keens of "**Bitter Hailstorm**!" ; he swooped down to grab larger enemies in his massive talons, ripping and tearing with glowing claws and an announcement of "**Heaven Strike**!" before dropping them to earth with a crash. Such was the fate of a cyborg yellow dinosaur-like digimon, a Reptiledramon, and its mechanical wings broke from the force of hitting the ground so hard.  
>Galeomon, meanwhile, was a whirlwind of water and electricity on the ground, throwing out crackling orbs of electricity one moment ("<strong>Electro Break<strong>!") and smashing foes left and right while she, herself, was surrounded by a swirling sphere of water and throwing herself bodily at them. ("**Crashing Wave**!")

And yet, on the cliffside, Kisekimon was losing ground against Javermon.

"I'll rip your throat out," the dog snarled, teeth bared as his claws - locked still with the samurai rabbit's blades - began to eat through the metal swords. This forced Kisekimon to release the Reaper; his swords all but healed themselves almost as fast as they were eaten away, but it boded ill regardless.

"Doesn't he have a no-kill order?" Simon from mused within Kisekimon's core. The samurai crossed his swords and strafing to the side- keeping an eye on Javermon, who turned on him, followed him with his gaze, but did not move. He only smiled.

_Something's telling me it's been called off,_ Kisekimon replied to his partner. In the blink of an eye, he sheathed his swords, and held both hands palms-out towards Javermon. "**Blast Burst**!" he cried, shots of white energy firing straight from his hands and at the Reaper.  
>Javermon, for his part, merely twirled his short cape around himself; the shots, when they hit the fabric, instantly dissipated. When he lowered the arm holding the cape, he was still grinning, and it was starting to - quite frankly - freak both the digimon and human parts of Kisekimon <em>right the heck out<em>.

"I'd say that's a good guess," Simon said, and his voice ('voice') wavered.

"**Nova Blade**!" Kisekimon cried aloud, then, drawing one sword from its paintbrush scabbard at lightning speed. It glowed as he swung it, almost as fast as he drew it, at Javermon.

The dog-man merely sidestepped it, looking at Simon.

"Your friends abandon you," Javermon said, grinning. "They've left you to die against me. Do you realize that?"

"No, they haven't," Kisekimon said again, barely a whisper, but his body momentarily sezied with indignation at the very insinuation.

But that moment of seizing up was all the Reaper needed. "**Justice Reaper**!" Javermon cried suddenly, and in a flash he was tackling Kisekimon, who could not move fast enough to hold him off. He hit the swordsman with such force that it actually propelled both him and the samurai off of their little cliff, crashing into the sand not far from the fray.  
>He tore at Kisekimon as though he were tissue paper, moving impossibly fast as he slashed and tore and <em>bit<em>, his claws blazing white.

The swordsman could only cry out, with one sword in its scabbard on his back (which itself was pressed to the ground) and the other knocked out of his hand, laying several feet out of his grasp.

Javermon snarled, not once ceasing his assault on Kisekimon- until he began to shine brightly, splitting apart into the little fluffball Efudemon and Simon a moment later. Both boy and furball lay almost motionless; Simon clenched his teeth and let loose a noise of pain when he tried to breathe too deeply.  
>Only now did the dog stop, his narrowed eyes settling on Efudemon<p>

"It's disappointing," the dog snarled, but he was grinning. "I'd wished you could put up more of a fight. But don't worry," he said, then, looking at Simon. "I'll be sure to make sure you _bleed_ once I'm done with your _pet_." He grabbed Efudemon, his hand encompassing the entire little digimon as he prepared to crush him.

The lack of help on the part of the other members of their ragtag was not indicative of apathy by any means. Galeomon, WarTriassimon, and ImperialBaghamon were engaged in combat with a ridiculously huge Hercules beetle (aptly named a HerculesKabuterimon), and were being tossed left and right; Rocmon was locking claws midair with a tremendous four-winged phoenix, a Hououmon, sending bursts of fire and ice cutting through the sky- bursts that MagnaAriamon, lending her assistance to the arctic avian, had to be careful to avoid. More than once, she was knocked askew.

And as for HebiDramon, with Luke on her back?

Strike that- she wasn't occupied at all.

And in fact, the black dragon was barreling towards Javermon, her mouth open wide.

"**Nightfall Sniper**!" she roared, and for a second, everything around her went dark, before a beam of paradoxical black light shot from her mouth- and straight at Javermon's face.

It had the major advantage of surprise- Javermon did not realize until too late that the attack was aimed at him, and so did not have time to brace himself or defend himself. True, it was an attack from a Perfect-level onto a _tremendously_ powerful Mega such as himself, but it did what it was supposed to: distract the dog. Perhaps his rage was a plus, because it caused him to drop Efudemon- he tumbled into the dust like a tiny sack of potatoes, but that was the price he paid for not dying.

Simon cracked one eye open in time to see Javermon turn to look at the dragon, who came to a stop a few meters away. HebiDramon's pupils were narrowed into slits, and every inch of her was tense. The goggle-wearing boy scrambled up, trying hard not to cry out from pain, and stumbled over to where his puffball partner lay unconscious.

"Bro, buddy, you gotta wake up, this is crunchtime, come on," Simon said desperately, more to himself than anything. Efudemon groaned, but did not come to, even as Simon picked him into his arms

"Hello again," Luke said, hands fisted in his partner's mane and speaking primarily to keep Javermon's attention- and it was working.

"You just can't wait to die, can you?" Javermon said, flexing his hands and growling. "**Blood Oath**!" he roared, rushing at HebiDramon with glowing-red claws. She was quick, however, and fluidly leapt back.

"**Nightfall Sniper**!" she retaliated, but once more, it had all the effect of a light tap on the Reaper.

"Grab Simon and Efudemon," Luke whispered quickly, lying down on his stomach in order to speak into his partner's ear, using the cry of her attack as cover.

The look the dragon gave him was sidelong and didn't even last a second, but he understood: _as though you needed to tell me_. Like a black lightning bolt, she threw herself to the side, and - much to Simon's rather indignant (and, honestly, rather amusing) surprise- scooped the boy up, puffball cargo and all, over her nose.

"**Blood Oath**!" Javermon yelled, but HebiDramon was quick to whip her way away from the canine's claws, darting into the battlefield- the numbers of hostile digimon were dwindling, but that only meant that those that remained were those that were strong.

Oh, and the fact that they were tearing across the battlefield with an incredibly angry dog, hot on their heels.

"Thanks, man," Simon huffed as he oriented himself and held fast to Efudemon, his voice pained.

"Yeah," Lujke said absentmindedly, his mind elsewhere. "No problem." He craned his neck to look over his shoulder, and saw Javermon begin to change- from his bipedial form to his far more animalistic one, wild-eyed and snarling. The Reaper hunched over as four paws began to beat against the ground instead of two feet- and HebiDramon was losing her lead.

But there was a saving grace in the form of a giant bird.

In the sky above, Rocmon let loose an ear-splitting keen as Hououmon was finally taken down, the fire-bird crashing to the ground before going up in a stream of data. It was no easy task- Rocmon himself was torn up, his feathers ruffled and his flight a bit off-kilter.  
>He was, however, an eagle-eyed sort (if the pun would be pardoned), and the moment he was disentangled from his foe, he was on the scene- or, rather, obscuring the scene -, regardless of his own wounds.<p>

"**Rolling Fog**!" he cried, flapping his wings to unleash a veritable tide of heavy fog onto the battlefield.  
>This was planned for, even if the exact situation (<em>in event of Javermon dueling with Kisekimon, splitting Kisekimon into his halves and attempting to kill Egakumon, HebiDramon will save him and then Rocmon will cause a distraction<em> was not in the previous night's discussions)- it would obscure the others' sight, but they would manage.

HebiDramon took advantage of this newfound cover, but knew it would not last. She took a sharp turn, hoping dearly that Javermon's tracker instincts would be dulled by his rage. They were- she could hear his snarling and breathing continuing on the same course he was on a moment before.  
>Rocmon alighted next to the dragon.<p>

"Take them, now," Luke blurted, indicating Simon and Efudemon with a jerk of his head. He was speaking fast, and sounded as winded as though it had been him running from the Reaper. "Javermon's a _bloodhound_, this fog won't hold him off for very long."

"The no kill order is off," Simon said through gritted teeth, holding his side with one arm and holding an unconscious Efudemon with the other as he climbed off the dragon's back.

"Aye," Rocmon said, scooping Simon (and Efudemon, obviously) gingerly into his talons. While it was not the most dignified of ways to be carried to safety, it was the only way he could in such a short time- the boy and the rabbit couldn't risk trying to climb up onto the bird's back at present.

Not a moment after Rocmon risen into the air, his tremendous wings beating the fog away, Javermon was back on the scene... and the pair of dragon and boy were all but sitting ducks.  
>"<strong>Relentless Chase<strong>!" Javermon snarled, his body surrounded by a red and black aura in the shape of a gaunt hound with glowing eyes. He rushed forward- the aura burst with explosive force once it hit its target, namely dragon and child. HebiDramon moved fast, twisting herself so Luke didn't take the brunt of the attack- and immediately going up in light, herself. She fared better than Simon's partner, as she was still conscious and in child form, but the two tumbled to the ground.

Javermon approached. His words were low and rather poorly articulated. "I've waited a very long time for a chance to take you down," he rumbled, eyes narrowed and lips drawn back to reveal his teeth, acidic slobber dripping from his mouth. In one paw he gathered up the length of chain that hung from his collar, twirling it, before calling, "**Chain of Command**!"  
>He twirled the chain expertly, lashing out with it like a whip to hit Sampamon.<br>And instead hit Luke, who had scrambled to cover the snake's body with his own.

Javermon was of enough presence of mind to try and restrain his power mid-attack - _Era's orders were first and foremost_ - but still...

Luke cried out, his vision going white as he was laid out flat. The last thing he heard was the voice of MagnaAriamon, the priestess sheep having quickly dropped down to their side:

"**Shining Break**!"

* * *

><p>It had been the last day Luke had been in the real world before... in a word, <em>everything<em> had happened. Clouds hung heavy over the city, covering the sky in a blanket of grey; it was sure to rain soon, but the weather was biding its time.  
>And Lukas himself? Well, he was out for a walk, just now approaching the city-center fountain square. People were bustling around him, and he mumbled apologies and tried to shuffle out of the way of oncoming foot traffic, but it didn't prevent people from shouldering their way past him with nary a second glance. He didn't mind terribly; he was - as he ever was - rather lost in his own head. He had been wandering about for most of the day; it was getting late. Behind the cloud cover, the sun would be going down soon.<p>

Luke stopped once he reached the plaza, breathing out heavily through his nose. The fountain was spitting water; he couldn't help but feel that the water would soon be redundant, as he looked to the heavy grey sky.

At his leg, his phone began to buzz incessantly- a call. Luke waited a moment before taking it out of his pocket, and without even looking at it, lifted it to his ear. He knew who it was going to be. "Hi, Jason," he said, leaning against a building wall.

"Hey, dude, where are you?" chimed the voice of another boy over the phone.

"I'm," Luke said, and he paused, frowning. Well... he may as well be honest. "I'm... at the fountain square."

Jason let loose a low whistle. "Dang. How'd you get _that_ far?"

"Well, I got on a bus, a while ago. That might have helped," Luke replied, half of his mouth tugging into a smile for a moment- but just a moment. It fell back into a neutral expression; just as sure as he knew who the person on the line had been without looking at it, he knew what he was going to get asked.

"You missed it, man. Riley and Sam put a frog in Suzi's bed. She nearly hit the ceiling and when she figured out that it was them, she was on the war path all afternoon," Jason said, and Luke could hear the grin. When he didn't reply, though, Jason said, gingerly, "you coming back?"

Luke paused for a minute, chewing the inside of his cheek pensively. "Yeah," he said after a long delay, putting his free hand in his pocket. "It might take a while, though. Donno when the next bus is." He made sure to speak evenly, though his throat was tight.

On the other end of the line, the other boy sighed good-naturedly. "Make it quick." Pause. "Man, Luke, I'm afraid you're gonna end up running off for good someday."

At least once a week, Luke would up and wander off into the city for a while- some times he only walked around the neighborhood, some times (such as now) he'd get halfway across the city before turning back. People would ask why such a young boy was wandering around by himself, to which he would reply with a faint smile and an _I'm thirteen- I'm not that little_, avoiding eye contact all the while.  
>"<em>That<em> would require me to have somewhere to go, Jason," Luke replied, shrugging even though the other boy couldn't see it. "I'll be back soon."

"Later, man," Jason said, and Luke clicked the _end call_ button with his thumb.

He would go back soon, but he was going to take his time while he was here; the next bus wouldn't be here for another ten minutes, at least. For now, he was going to take in the peace and quiet- especially considering that big fat droplets of rain were starting to hit the pavement, leading many people to start trickling out of the square.  
>It was hard, after all, to get any sort of peace or privacy in a foster home with a half-dozen kids living in it at any given time; he was going to get it while he could.<p>

Luke had seen a lot of kids come and go over the years. He had come and gone out of his fair share of homes himself, shuffled around the city every few years like a thirteen-year-long game of hot potato. The way he had understood it was that his mother was unwed, and gave him up reluctantly, as she did not have the means to provide for him, nor any relatives willing or able to adopt. All he had to go on was a last name, which wasn't much; he supposed he could try to find her if he felt the need, but he had come to terms with it long ago; it was just the way his life was.  
>He no longer resented the facts, but it was hard to feel any sense of permanence or placement in a whirlwind of kids and locations.<p>

And so he went off on the walks, to clear his head, to be left alone and have a few hours to himself.

He knew he couldn't just run off, but he couldn't help but wonder if anyone other than Jason (who was, at present, on the cusp of adoption himself, and would thus be leaving) would even have noticed if he had just wandered off into the night. He wagered probably not, at least not for a good long while.

It was starting to rain harder, and Luke shook his head to bring himself out of his reverie. There was no point in being caught up in it.

He looked to the fountain, and even with the water falling from the sky, he felt the need to approach it. He had tossed a coin into it some time ago, a childish wish. Of course, at the time of the wish, and even as he was approaching it, he had no idea that said coin tossed in ages ago would have _any_ effect on his life at all- let alone such a huge one, years later. He struck it from his mind.

Luke sighed, rubbing his fingers a coin in his pocket and wondering if he should throw it in, just for giggles. When he reached the lip of the fountain, however, his phone began to buzz, sidelining any thoughts of fountain wishes. He assumed it was just Jason trying to get back in touch with him, but when he fished it out with an eyebrow quirked, it was anything but. There was a text message on the screen; when he clicked it open, it was blank.

Well, by this point, it should be obvious what happened then.

* * *

><p>"Are you okay?" Sampamon said as Luke opened his eyes. MagnaAriamon was still maintaining the shield around them- a quick look around revealed that it had been perhaps a minute at most since the attack had hit. Sampamon herself was nudging her nose against his face, her expression worried.<p>

"Yeah," he mumbled, forcing himself up, though his back seared with pain. He looked to the snake beside him, then out to survey his surroundings. In those seconds, Javermon had turned his attention away; ImperialBaghamon and WarTriassimon, together, began to rush the dog, respective weapons poised and at the ready.

"**Imperial Saber**!"

"**Armor Breaker**!"

Both scimitar and spear raked across the dog's back, but in Javermon's bloodlust, he barely seemed to register them. Instead, he lunged at WarTriassimon and roared:

"**Wicked Crunch**!" In the blink of an eye, he had the dinosaur held between his jaws and began to bite down, his acidic saliva starting to dissolve WarTriassimon's armor away.

"**Fire Wave**!" ImperialBaghamon roared, a veritable typhoon of flames spilling from his mouth and over Javermon. The hound couldn't ignore the crackling flames; he dropped WarTriassimon, who was quick to get away, and the cat himself stumbled backwards, a bit inelegantly.

Above, Rocmon was scouring the battlefield, Simon and Efudemon still held gingerly in his talons; the bird sent down rains of hail and fog, creating glaciers from the ground, to deter down any lingering foes, while Galeomon was quick to tear her way through the weakened enemies the bird's attack left- there were almost no combatants left. It was a testament to them- they had grown _powerful._  
>Even so, it was easy to see- every one of them was growing tired. Even beside him, up-close, Luke could see that MagnaAriamon was dishevelled. Javermon was unfairly strong, and the digimon of the team were tiring in a way that he wasn't- and that the opposing forces weren't, having an abundance of fighters.<p>

It was a flurry of sound and chaos; it'd be hard to blame Luke for having difficulty getting his head on straight.  
>And maybe it was for the better that this was so.<p>

He pushed himself to his feet a bit unstably. He closed his eyes and breathed out.

All those years ago, he had asked for a place he belonged, for people he belonged with.  
>Well, here it was, and now wasn't the time or place to give up on them. He just needed to have the means to help.<p>

He opened his eyes. He pulled his D-GEAR out of his pocket, and gave it a long hard look; he then looked down at the snake beside him. "Sampamon?" he said, quiet.

"Yes?"

"Are you ready to do something really stupid?"

"I was hoping you would ask that," the snake replied, and Luke was a bit taken aback by her answer. She looked up and smiled at him. "Always, with you."

MagnaAriamon cast a sidelong glance at the two; she smiled, and let down her barrier- before rushing forth to take her well-deserved turn at making an attempt to beat the crap out of Javermon and keep him away.

In his hand, Luke's D-GEAR began to blaze white very quickly, almost as though it had waited as long for this as they had. The light began to seep up the boy's arm, and he welcomed it as it engulfed both him and his partner, and both closed their eyes.

**_True warrior of the Virtue of Empathy; this is your genesis._**

Two pairs of eyes snapped open, blazing shades of brilliant magenta, before the white light overtook them and began to expand around them. The shell of light was odd; tinged with vivid pink, it seemed to make the area around it darker, taking in the light and giving off none of its own. Dark shapes streaked across the surface of the orb, and then, like a light being flipped off, the light turned from white to black.

"Sampamon, genesis digivolve to..."

The paradoxically dark orb of light grew tremendously in size, clearly following in the footsteps of the Mega forms of Kamomon and Galeomon, more beastly than humanlike. Around them, within the orb, their senses were hard to discern- it was like their senses of touch were being turned off to all sensation, and yet they were more aware than ever. Around them, the sound of rushing data, as all before them had experienced; interspersed with this sound, however, were beastly roars, the noises half-hidden under the less-literal roar of energy swirling around them.

Sampamon grew in size dramatically as Luke lent her his power, but she kept her serpentine shape. Her scales darkened in colour, becoming pure jet-black with grey on her underside, the latter fading to nearly-black the closer to her tailtip it was. The jewel on her head morphed into a golden faceplate, inset with three jewels; feathery ears decorated the sides of her face as it enlongated to be more dragon-like, razor-sharp teeth lining her mouth. Plumage in vivid warm colours decorated her head, while a ridge of cooler-hued feathers decorated her body nearer the tail-end of her body. Three golden rings hovered around her tail- the tip of which had burst into grey feathers; two golden necklaces settled around her neck.

But not to be forgotten was the addition of limbs- not legs, like HebiDramon had, but rather, tremendous wings. The secondary feathers of her wings were jet-black, the exact same glossy shade as her scales, and they blended seamlessly with her body at the point where they joined. The primary flight feathers, however, were vividly hued. It began at green at the rightmost feather on her right wing, then faded through blue to purple until hitting her body; the spectrum picked up seamlessly with red-violet at the inner edge of her left wing, continuing along until the leftmost feathers of her left wing were tipped in golden yellow.

With a roar, she threw her wings open, dispersing the dark sphere of light; it dispersed into the sky like smoke, and all that was left was the final Mega of the team. (And it was about time, at that.)

"**Quetzacoatimon**!"

She promptly rose into the sky, almost silently; she was an imposing figure, her wings making a stark silhouette against the darkening clouds, and so she didn't need to make a noise to command attention. Even Javermon turned to look, eyes narrowed and snarling low.

Within the new mega, few words were exchanged.

_Shall we?_ Quetzacaotimon's voice said, quiet and serene.

"I was hoping you'd ask that," Luke replied; he felt a sense of serenity settling around him, even though the battle was far from through. If he had a true physical presence in the core of his partner's Mega form, he would have closed his eyes. Quetzacoatimon's huge wings beat slow- and without warning, she let loose a roar that split through the silence, and that was signal enough:

It was back on.

First things first, Quetzacoatimon was quick to make her first move- but it wasn't an offensive one. "**Fertile Rain**!" she cried as she began to circle the battlefield, her wings shining brightly. The huge serpent left a trail of multicoloured light in her stead, and seconds after being left, the trail dissipated and fell like, well, rain. If it fell on any of their foes' heads, it simply dissipated harmlessly- but the fighters on the ground (to wit: ImperialBaghamon, WarTriassimon, Galeomon, and MagnaAriamon) found that when it hit them, they felt rejuvenated- like all of their wounds were half-numbed. Perhaps it was not a total heal, but it was a second wind.

Galeomon was first to use that second wind, and barrelled towards Javermon. "**Crashing Wave**!" the shark cried, encircled by a swirling orb of water that burst like a - well, crashing wave - as she smashed into Javermon. The dog snarled- it was enough to send him skidding backwards.  
>Even so- he was still on his feet. As Galeomon passed, he grabbed the massive shark by the tail. In a truly surreal spectacle, considering their mismatch in size, he heaved the shark towards the dark abyss.<p>

Galeomon twisted her body and slammed her claws into the rock, but inertia kept her hindquarters going; a moment later, she was clinging to the edge of a cliff, dangling over a swirling mass of who-knew-what.

"Don't look down," Faris advised from within Galeomon.

_Wasn't planning on it, yeom,_ Galeomon's voice replied, but even within their core, her voice was strained as she grit her teeth, trying to pull her massive bulk up.

Rocmon was on the job- again, he had very sharp eyes, and was quick to take note and formulate a plan. "Forgive me for this, lads," he rumbled, dropping to the ground a short distance away from Javermon; Simon held Efudemon tight to his chest as he stumbled to his feet.

"Not a problem," the goggle-wearing boy replied, nodding once.

Rocmon looked at the pair, then nodded. The tremendous bird keened loudly, before rising into the air again, swooping towards the abyss- or rather, towards Galeomon. In perhaps an intentional move, he grabbed Galeomon's tail in his talons and lifted her by it, in an admittedly rather undignified fashion, back onto solid ground.

In one last pass before her 'attack' ended, meanwhile, Quetzacoatimon passed over Simon and Efudemon- the light flitted down and sunk into Efudemon's body. He groaned, stirring bit by bit, until-  
>The little furball was engulfed in white light, quickly becoming significantly heavier, and Simon just about dropped Efudemon as he digivolved into Egakumon, whther he was aware of it not.<br>"_What the heck did I miss?_" the newly re-formed rabbit demanded as his eyes snapped open, getting to his feet quickly. He felt _fresh as a daisy_- though Simon still felt like he had been hit by a truck. The boy grinned, holding up his D-GEAR.

"Nothin', bro," the boy replied, as his digivice began to glow.

Rocmon took to the air again, taking a place opposite Quetzacoatimon; both serpent and bird flapped near-silently to stay in place in the air, eyes narrowed, entire bodies tensed and ready to fight. WarTriassimon held his spear tight, while MagnaAriamon let her grip on her staff remain loose. With a flash of fire, ImperialBaghamon instead put his scimitars away; with one of his pairs of arms, he cracked his knuckles in a very clear _bring it on_ gesture, his back arms remaining tense and in a ready position. Galeomon got to her feet, flexing her claws and grinning.  
>And with a flash of light-<p>

Kisekimon took Simon and Egakumon's place, stepping forward with a flash of light.

"I think we've got some business to take care of," Kisekimon said. "Don't you guys agree?" With that, he drew his swords, slow. His face was covered by his cloth mask, but it was impossible to imagine he was doing anything but smiling.

Javermon's head snapped around- seven Megas. The entire lot had managed to digivolve- and the last of the brats and his pet had given them a second wind.  
>Fine. <em>Fine<em>. He figured (and correctly, at that) that Qutezacoatimon likely would not be able to do it again, at least not for some time;

"**Chain of Command**!" he growled, twirling his length of chain with blinding speed, and lashing out at the nearest target- ImperialBaghamon.

"**Imperial Saber**!" the cat returned, two of his curved blades appearing in his two 'frontmost' arms; the metal of the chain was met with the metal of the blades, and the force caused them to wrap around the sabers, but not hit ImperialBaghamon himself. Javermon snarled, tugging his chain back, and ImperialBaghamon pulled back to keep his weapons from being pulled with them.

"So we have a slight change to the plan," WarTriassimon said, mostly to himself, but audible. But it was a good one- the addition of Quetzacoatimon.  
>Two cries came from overhead, the two digimon in flight calling attacks; the fighters on the ground backed away, tense and defensive as they tried to stay out of the way of the incoming spray from above.<p>

"**Bitter Hailstorm**!" Rocmon cried, releasing a veritable torrent of sharpened hail as he flapped his wings.

"**Brilliant Hunter**!" Quetzacoatimon growled; on the underside of her wings, a thousand tiny, needle-like blades of light formed- they shone with colour, and when she spread her wings wide, they shot out in a blinding stream.

Javermon growled; both attacks hit him squarely. He rolled back on his haunches, and _leapt_. "**Wicked Crunch**!" he rumbled; his jump was impressive, and he managed to lock jaws in Rocmon's throat. The bird let loose a loud cry, thrashing wildly to try and dislodge the canine.

"**Nova Blade**!" Kisekimon cried, leaping up in turn (well, he was - in part - a rabbit, after all), one sword brandished and glowing. He raked the blade across Javermon's hide and, as he fell back down to the ground, turned to look at what his attack had done; while it would be a lie to say it didn't leave a scratch, it didn't seem to do much.

"**Electro Break**!" Galeomon roared, rearing her hands back and then firing two twin balls of lightning at Javermon. _They_ hit soundly, and, hitting one after the other, managed to dislodge the dog's jaws, or at least loosen them enough that a good wrench from Rocmon sent him tumbling back to earth.

"We're even then, lass," Rocmon said, beaming at the shark sidelong.

"Ain't nothin', yeom."

Javermon landed on his feet like a cat, and barely seemed hurt. Every digimon held their breath as he began to howl, loudly, snarling and spitting and-  
>His bones contorted as he returned to his bipedal stance. It did not seem to be a particularly comfortable transition, with how his teeth were grit and his chest was heaving.<p>

"You asked for it," he spat, flexing his claws. "Then you'll have it," he continued; the look in his eyes was manic. And he began to grin.  
>It made the group very uneasy indeed.<p>

"**Blood Oath**!" he roared, lunging forward and slashing scarlet-red claws across ImperialBaghamon's torso. Perhaps it had been that Kisekimon's swords that had leant him at least some of his protection against the attack, or perhaps it was that Quetzacoatimon's revitalizing power only had so much to lend; maybe even it was that Javermon's rage and bloodlust were making him stronger. Whatever the reason, the cat was sent tumbling backwards, only maintaining his Mega form by a hair's breadth.

It was a chorus of sound; each digimon cried out attacks to try and deflect the canine, he merely continued to call his Blood Oath attack time after time, decimating the attacks it met and tearing through the digimon it touched. They landed attacks in return for every one of Javermon's, but it felt that they were evenly matched- even though it was seven against one. It was dark, now; it would be impossible to see but for the violet-red light of the crystal that shielded Era's cathedral.

In short: it felt like it was going nowhere.

"How is he this strong?" Luke mused 'aloud' within Quetzacoatimon, growing distressed; only Quetzacoatimon and Rocmon in the sky were the only ones with any claim to safety as they unleashed attacks from above, and it felt like a hollow and temporary safety at best.

_Desperation and rage lend strength to him,_ Quetzacoatimon replied after a long pause. _But they cannot last forever._

"Why won't you _DIE_!?" Javermon snarled suddenly, his cool officially out the window and lost- it was as if on cue, an ironic counterpoint to Luke's thought. Suddenly, it fell quiet; his outburst caused a temporary lull in the fight. Not even the wind howled in the distance- it was utterly still.

"Had you not abandoned your allies," Kisekimon said after a moment, his chest heaving, "perhaps you would have an easier time, instead of fighting us alone."

Javermon looked like he'd like nothing more than to force-feed Kisekimon his own swords. "I don't care," he said, his voice suddenly very quiet, and he began to lurch forward. "I don't care what happens. I just want one of you _dead_," he spat, and he reared his claws back. They began to glow red, but he was cut off before he could call his attack.

"**Spectral Tail**!" Quetzacoatimon cried from above, to the surprise of all the others. She slashed her tailtip through the air; from it was generated a black blade of energy, and this would be invisible if not for the aura around it that shone with every colour in the spectrum. The energy blade surged through the air, and hit Javermon squarely in the chest, the energy seeping into his body. The red light faded from his claws, and he stumbled backwards.

That attack actually seemed to have done something, and Javermon did not take it well. He growled low in his throat, and turned to look up at the feathered snake.  
>He planted his feet solidly before leaping skyward once more; even without the powerful haunches of his bestial form, he had quite the jump, and he grabbed fast to the serpent. A powerful grip allowed him to hold tight to Quetzacoatimon, near the base of her head even as she, instinctively, tried to dislodge him. "<strong>Blood Oath<strong>!" he yelled, rearing one hand back and holding fast but instead of slashing, he simply stabbed in, and Quetzacoatimon let loose a roar of pain. Javermon began to drag his claws, still glowing red, through her hide, and repeated the action with his other hand.

"We have to help her," WarTriassimon said (ImperialBaghamon looked sidelong at him, quirking an eyebrow- he hadn't expected something so emotionally frank from the so-laconic reptillian), preparing his weapon.

"Be careful not to hit her," MagnaAriamon added, but before she even finished speaking her staff was glowing. "**Radiant Lance**!" she cried, throwing the polearm like a javelin.

"**God Fist**!" ImperialBaghamon roared, punching all four of his clenched fists out, sending their flaming aura out and towards Javermon.

"**Blast Burst**!" Kisekimon added, holding his palms out to fire blasts of energy.

Alongside him, Galeomon was preparing orbs of electricity. "**Electro Break**!"  
>While she did, however, WarTriassimon actually clambered up her back; she quickly understood what he was trying to do, and straightened herself up as best she could.<p>

The dinosaur was using the shark as a platform to reach Rocmon; he wasn't the best of jumpers, and needed the height boost to grab onto Rocmon's claws, and, well, he would use what he had. Grabbing onto Rocmon's foot, the bird got the idea; he maneuvered himself closer. As soon as he could, the dinosaur hurled himself towards Javermon, who still holding fast to Quetzacoatimon's hide; the attacks of those below hit him, opening up the gates for the next two.

"**Armor Breaker**!" WarTriassimon cried, striking out at Javermon with his spear and leaping away before the dog had the chance to retaliate, falling backwards towards the ground- and Galeomon rushed to catch him before he hit.

"**Roc Claw**!" Rocmon added, swooping as close as he could to slash out with glowing claws at Javermon, trying valiantly to avoid hitting Quetzacoatimon with his talons- he wasn't entirely successful, but it did its job.

Six attacks hitting him in quick succession was more than enough to dislodge the dog, but not before Quetzacoatimon had sustained her fair share of damage.

Javermon hit the ground, and this time, he hit it like a bag of bricks. But yet, he was still grinning; Quetzacoatimon was having trouble keeping airborne.  
>Within the serpent, Luke was relatively sure that he had never experienced such excruciating pain; even though Javermon's claws were gone, it felt as though they lingered.<p>

"That'll do for now," Javermon rumbled, and he raised his claws again. This time, they did not glow red- instead, they glowed white, and he stepped towards the nearest- MagnaAriamon. "**Justice Reap**-"

"**Sacrificial Dance**!" Quetzacoatimon roared, and her light cut through the night. It happened almost instantaneously. She reared up, her body twisting around, before she was engulfed by light. The light then rushed out of her body as a powerful black wave of energy - and much like the blade of her spectral tail attack, it was surrounded by a multi-hued aura.  
>Javermon roared, rearing back, throwing his arms over his eyes.<p>

Above, Quetzacoatimon herself lost all of her colour- for a moment or two, all of her brilliantly-hued feathers were shades of grey, her head hanging. She spread her wings to slow her fall; she could no longer keep airborne, and she hit the ground, before she went up in light of her own. A moment later, only Luke and little Plumon were left, both with their heads similarly.

But as for Javermon?

Well.

For the first time, they saw an emotion in his eyes that wasn't confidence or anger- it was pure confusion, for only a moment.

"What?" he snarled, taking a step backwards as his body began to shine. "No. _No_," he hissed. "I haven't failed him. This isn't _possible_," he spat, but it was certainly possible- because with a flash of light, the last Reaper was nothing more than a stream of data firing into the sky, and an egg falling to the ground.  
>His small red cape was left behind, not taken with the data; it drifted down and nestled around the digitama that was left.<p>

It was only a moment later that six flashes of light cut the night in their turns, and the six remaining megas turned into child and digimon once more. Each child was accompanied by their small Baby II-level digimon- it had been much longer of a fight than any of them had ever spent in Mega form. They were sore, they were in pain, and they were tired.  
>But they had done it.<p>

Slowly, all seven kids sat up and picked their partners up- their digimon looked up at them, half-expecting that they would wake up from this dream any moment now. But they didn't- Javermon, and the entire small army of digimon, was kaput. All that was left was to take on Era himself, in the cathedral in the abyss.  
>They looked over; they could see chunks of floating debris, more than large enough to stand on and close enough to step (not even jump) between, providing a stable (if rather precarious) bridge of sorts across the open air between the cliff and the floating island. Perhaps it had been a bridge at some time- until very recently, most likely. And they just had to cross over, and then they would be there.<p>

They did not know, yet, that the fight would not end in that cathedral- of course it wouldn't, it couldn't be so easy.  
>But at the moment, as far as they could see it- they were on the doorstep of the enemy, and the door was open.<p>

_Holy crap._

They mumbled betwixt themselves and their partners, quick "you alright?"s and congratulations. It felt too surreal- they could only sit for now.

"Hey," Andrea said after a while, looking over at Luke; he looked up, blinking. He hadn't spoken, at least not audibly, since he and Plumon had de-digivolved. "What was with that at the end? I didn't think the mid-word cutoff attack was really your style." The girl was smirking.

Luke paused, looking at Plumon, who was in his lap; she looked up at him, expectant for his answer.  
>It had, after all, been his initiative, not hers, that had led to the attack that had finished the dog off.<p>

"... he had lost it," he said, measured, still looking at Plumon. "He... if he had attacked any of you... he'd have killed you, digimon and human and all... That attack was almost what brought Simon and Egakumon down." He paused, and shrugged. "We couldn't let that just... happen. So we stopped it. Don't worry about it."

He looked up, then, and realized that the other six children and their respective digimon were looking to him. "But it was, like- if that hadn't worked, you'd have left yourself open to attack, you know?" Emily said, tilting her head.

"Well... yeah," Luke said, then, as though that were obvious. "But if that had happened, it'd be fine- it'd have at least been a distraction, and it'd have made it so you guys could-"

"Don't," Julian cut him off, with just one word.

"Don't pull that crap, it's _way_ too late in the game for me to have any patience for dealing with it," Andrea said with a nod, and despite her harsh words her tone was surprisingly kind.

"You're one of us," Toby said, quiet but sincere.

"One of our big, screwed up family," Faris said cheerfully; it didn't go unnoticed, by him or by anyone else, that Luke's face went pink almost immediately.

"You're gonna have to get used to that, you know? Geeze," Simon said, like it was as obvious as anything; a nod of assent rippled throughout the other kids.

Luke paused, his face feeling very overheated. He looked down at his partner; she nudged her head against his chest and nodded, smiling. He sighed out heavily, but smiled and nodded. The kids began to stand, joining in a group instead of being strewn out wherever they had been at the end of the battle. Their digimon were in their arms (or, in Luke's case, as-ever, around his shoulders, even if she was far lighter at the moment).

"Your mega form is pretty hardcore," Efudemon said, then, from his position in Simon's arms, looking at Plumon.

"It suits you," Fuwamon concurred.

"Thank you," the little snake said, bowing her head politely, but she was smiling.

It wasn't long before all attention turned on the sole source of light- Era's stronghold. It went quiet; the wind began to howl in the distance. Luke carefully brushed Javermon's cape off of the egg that the final Reaper left behind and picked it up- carefully, gingerly.

"Shall we?" Simon said, grinning lopsidedly- a bit unsure, but not about to give out now. None of them were.

* * *

><p>Era, in his control room, in the heart of the stronghold, was slumped down in his chair. He didn't worry- even if Javermon had been defeated. In fact, he had sent the Reaper out assuming that it would happen- it didn't matter, anyway.<p>

Nothing the kids could do now could matter.


	45. Chapter 45: Revelations

_A/N: All I have to say about this one is that I recommend listening to 'For All These Times, Son, For All These Times' by Lostprophets after the "fight"._

* * *

><p>By the light of the crystal in front of them, seven pairs of feet made careful - but quick - work of crossing the chasm, hopping from floating stone to floating stone. It wasn't terribly difficult, as in no place were the stones too small nor too far-flung; indeed, it seemed the bridge had been broken quite recently, and the parts had not yet had time to disperse. Seven pairs of arms held little digimon, save for Luke; Plumon was settled around his shoulders, and in his arms was instead the digitama of Javermon.<br>(He couldn't quite explain why he was carrying it; he doubted he would be able to deliver it to Deekamon, even if their ally was still around to have the egg delivered to him. Still... he felt bad leaving an egg, even a Reaper's egg, sitting on the cusp of the abyss.)  
>up the steps.<br>One by one, the other kids followed suit and followed the goggle-boy up. They hesitated before actually goin  
>It was a relatively short jaunt, but it was hard to shake the discomfort of essentially skipping from stone to stone over an endless abyss. Once, Simon nearly faltered- and before a second passed, Toby was quick to reach out to help stabilize him.<br>The few minutes spent crossing the chasm felt like they took forever; before long at all, they were standing on the floating island, looking up at the structure before them. There were stone steps leading up to the entrance; there, there were tall doors, but they were not closed; one of the two stood open, leading into a tall, long, and - above all - dark corridor.

"What are we waiting for?" Cindemon said from Andrea's arms.

Well... what _were_ they waiting for?  
>But the kids were rooted to the spot, and the digimon - even Cindemon, for his griping - were in no particular hurry either. Their apprehension was understandable; they had no idea what was waiting for them inside, even the two of them that knew where to go.<p>

It took a moment, but with a heavy breath, Simon steeled his nerves. "Let's go," he said, and he began to walkg in, though; they looked, again, to Simon. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Simon said, a bit unnerved.

"You've always been the one to rush in," Toby said, shifting Fuwamon to one arm and rubbing the back of his head with the newly-freed hand.

Emily smiled faintly, picking up. "And stop me if I'm wrong, buuut... I think we kinda need that right now. You know?"

The be-hatted boy paused for a moment, and adjusted his goggles as he looked down at Efudemon in his arms. "Well," he said slowly, and then nodded, and smiled slowly. "Then I can't let you guys down. Time to rush in where angels fear to tread, yeah?" When he looked back up, the others nodded, and uncertain smiles played on their faces.  
>Simon gave the group a thumbs-up.<p>

When - and only when - he got six thumbs-ups in return did he turn to the door, and was the first to step over the line and into Era's stronghold. The others were behind him in a moment's notice.

Inside, it was two things: dark and almost painfully quiet. They could see well enough to see walls, the floor, the basic layout of where they were... though they couldn't quite tell the light source, light was coming from _somewhere_. There was only one way to go- forward. Hands occupied as they were, they had a hard time getting their D-GEARs out for extra light, and so they tread on in the dark, breath bated.

It wasn't long before the corridor opened up into a far larger room- the light was as faint as it was before, and the shadows seemed soaked into the corners. Dilapidated pillars decorated the floors, while crumbling statues lay askew. Even in the dark, they could see the forms of the statues that lay near the outside of the large room, just inside the halo of light- the Sovereigns. It was no wonder, then, that they looked like they had seen better days- claw marks gouged through solid stone.

"Guys?" Toby said, suddenly, his voice cutting through the quiet. He was walking forward- seven broken pedestals, lying in a pile. Their bases looked broken, as though they had been uprooted and tossed aside. Carved forms, details worn away by time and abuse, sat atop the fallen pedestals. The same shining crystal as ever, though it seemed to have lost all of its luster and shine, comprised the familiar statues.

If they thought back to Wisemon's castle under the sea, they would recall the sight- for indeed, the statues were likenesses of the seven child-level digimon, the receivers of the virtue.  
>In fact, they were the exact same statues- not simply replicas or of a similar make, but the exact same, ripped up out of their places in Wisemon's stronghold and hidden away.<p>

Which meant who-knew-what for Wisemon himself. Or rather, his fate was clear, if they looked close; a familiar book lay open, the majority of its pages carelessly ripped out and torn, now in the form of scraps of paper strewn on the floor.

... call _that_ a nice kick in the proverbial teeth.

"I... dang," Faris huffed, chewing the inside of his cheek and looking at his feet.

It was possible to forget that the digital world didn't just exist where they were- it lived and breathed and things would happen, even if they weren't there to see and try to stop them. It brought up the question: how many other allies and friends had fallen without their knowing it?

They had to tear themselves away before they got sidelined for too long; time was of the essence, and now that they were quite literally no longer on the doorstep of the enemy, but rather _past_ it, they couldn't afford to waste their time. They had to find him.

They had to walk away, minds racing but mouths closed as they ventured deeper.

Luke gave his input on direction from the rear of the pack; it wasn't hard to hear him, as the only remarkable sounds was that of their feet on the cobblestone floors. They walked through dark corridors and crossed empty rooms, passed naked masses of crystal sticking out of the walls. Occasionally, they could look towards the ceiling and instead see the dark sky outside and hear the howling wind.  
>In other rooms they passed through, they saw more crumbled statues, more odd objects hoarded in piles; digitama lay here and there. These were half trophies, and half a way to make sure that reborn digimon would be indoctrinated from hatching. Perhaps even the eggs of fallen allies lay in these stores- or even perhaps eggs of digimon they had defeated, snatched up and returned so they would not be able to switch sides.<p>

They twisted and turned, and it felt like they were walking in circles, but before long they stood at the bottom of a stairwell, leading up into one of the only intact spires in Era's cathedral base. They could see the stairs turn to wind around a central column, and it was pitch black.

The digimon each felt a slight tingling in their bodies, like the pin-pricks of a limb regaining feeling after going numb, but they dismissed it as simply nerves. The kids felt the same, though considerably more subdued- it was almost like the feeling of passing through a proxy area.

"So this is where he's hiding out?" Emily said, a frown tugging at the side of her mouth.

"Yes," Plumon said from her place around Luke's shoulders.

"It's all upstairs from here, then, yeom," Finmon remarked.

With that, they began to climb the stone stairs, slow, deliberate; it wasn't cramped by any means (it couldn't have been, if Javermon and the like could pass up and down it), but there wasn't an overabundance of horizontal space, and they went up in single-file. Every sound had an amplified echo, and though it wasn't a terrifically long walk up, it felt like it took so much longer than it did.

Before they reached the top, however, the digimon began to act quite strangely indeed- the tingling was growing in strength, and when they were perhaps three-quarters of the way up, it became too much for the little digimon.

"Set me down, set me down," Efudemon said, almost shaking with the _something_. He wasn't the only one; even Lammon and Plumon began to bristle, and their partners did as Efudemon demanded of Simon, setting their partners on the steps in front of them.

"What's going on?" Toby said, sounding a bit concerned; they were staggered on the stairs, and it was hard to really get a bearing on what was going on with the group as a whole.

"It's- energy," Paleomon said, before what sounded like an involuntary growl escaped him.

"A whole freakin' lot of it," Cindemon added, his tail flicking. It looked like he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"That explains the tingling, then," Julian reasoned, speaking low, but he was audible, thanks to the reverberation of his voice.

"Okay, great, so that wasn't just me, then," Simon remarked.

It was energy, yes- but the thing was, it wasn't the kind of energy they might have felt in the presence of a Sovereign. It overflowed; it was being handled by something not fully equipped to handle it, and it felt like it was surging through them.  
>Within a few seconds - and without even announcing it - the digimon began to glow, and took on their Child forms, as if they were forced- or were absorbing the energy runoff they spoke of.<p>

"Somehow, I'm getting the feeling that this isn't an act of charity on Era's part," Kamomon remarked, looking up the stairs and furrowing his brow. At the head of the pack, Simon (as was per his usual) did not hesitate; he merely began to lead the pack up the stairs, now with Egakumon hot on his heels instead of Efudemon in his arms.

It was even more claustrophobic now, with the digimon in their larger forms (though, of course, Sampamon was still on Luke's shoulders, and he still held the last reaper's digitama in his arms), but the change gave the kids a bit more hope- their digimon were at least in a more independent form, capable of fighting if they had to.

Not that they had _any_ idea what they were going to do when they reached Era, but they couldn't turn back now.

Within minutes, they reached a flat landing at the top of the stairs. In front of them, a large, ornately-carved black door led into a room; the door itself was cracked open, and darn if that didn't set off every kid and digimon in the pack's radar as a sign to be on the alert.

"Well," Egakumon said, looking around as all seven pairs stepped onto the landing, breathing out. His voice was low, but he didn't tell himself that Era wouldn't be able to hear them on the other side. "... you guys ready for this?"

"Let's get on with the face-kicking," Andrea said after a short silence, pounding a fist into her other hand's palm. That was enough- that was the go-ahead.

"I've been waiting for this for more than my share of time," Luke admitted, nodding once.

A heavy silence overtook the entire group as they turned to look at the door.

Simon did not lead this time- instead, all as one, they began to move. The door was pushed open; by whom was unclear. They crossed the threshold, not knowing what was going to be on the other side, except for one thing: Era.

It was dark in the room; so dark, in fact, that they couldn't see a thing in front of them. The door closed unbidden behind them, casting the group into total darkness, but all stood fast (even Toby, though Lammon did nudge her nose against his hand reassuringly). The ceiling soared so high above them that even if it were not dark, they'd have difficulty seeing it. The tingling of the odd energy stayed strong- stronger than before.

Then, a moment later a tinted-blue light flared to life in front of them- its source was unclear, but there, sitting on an ornately carved black _throne_, was Era.

The light was faint- it was just enough to let them see his basic form. He propped his chin up with one hand, his elbow resting on the arm of the chair; the rest of his body was slack as a ragdoll. His glasses hung loosely from his free hand.  
>The man looked more... tired, than he had when they had seen him in the Deep Jungle, though perhaps it was a trick of the light. He was paler and his skin was almost translucent, his hair looking like it had gone quite a while without being washed.<p>

And it did not take away from the intimidation factor. Era was still a scrawny man, no older than his mid-30s, and most importantly: he was wholly _human_. There he sat, in front of kids and creatures who had just come out of fighting a seven-foot-tall dog-man, giant birds, bugs the size of commercial jets... and yet, it was _he_ that made the group fall still and silent.

Truth be told, they realized they didn't know what to do; they couldn't fight, not in their current state - ragged and run-down - but it was far too late to turn back, and waiting would have made them even bigger of sitting ducks.

"You know," Era began to say in a low tone, "it's interesting."  
>His voice was even, but there was a barely-concealed hint of rage lingering below the surface. He got no reply, so he continued. They couldn't see his eyes; his head was rolled forward and hung slack. "It's <em>interesting<em>," he repeated, "that the dog conveniently forgot to tell me something important. The idiot gods must be truly desperate. It would have been wonderful to know earlier."

Silence fell again; either nobody wanted to dignify Era with a response, or they were waiting to see if he had more to say. (Not for interest in his point of view so much as it was the same sort of instinct that drives someone to watch a train wreck- the feeling that they should turn away, but they couldn't).

"It's interesting," Era said for the third time, "that the idiot gods value your lives so _very little_ that they would forfeit them, just for a shot that did nothing to save themselves."

"What?" Rajamon said, not to anybody in particular but just a general expression of bewilderment.

"They drag you down with them, and they feed you lies that it's for your own good- for your world as much as theirs, for your lives, and so you should let their scum contaminate you," Era continued, as though he could not hear the cat- really, as though he were speaking to himself more than he was to anyone else. "They forfeit _your_ lives, and all for what? A slight delay of the inevitable?" Pause, and then he looked at the children- or rather, looked through them. "I would be a lot angrier were I in your position."

The group exchanged sidelong looks in silence, bewildered. The kids reached slowly for their D-GEARs, but the motion did not escape Era.

"It's far too late to be thinking about doing that," the man said coolly, raising his hand in a nonverbal cue for them to stop. Uneasy, they froze; the digimon bristled visibly. Era continued only when it was clear that he wasn't going to be interrupted. "You should be thanking me, you know. At least I was going to give you a choice to live, but no, so much for that."

"What on _earth_ are you talking about?" Emily said, sudden, almost as if it were reflexive and unbidden; but even so, it was dead-on for what was on the entire group's minds. Her hands were clenched into fists; she was trembling slightly, but more from contained anger than any sort of fear.

Era looked at the girl, his expression unreadable; it was almost like he was looking through her, rather than at her. "I was not aware until your little fight outside that they've gone so far as to actively _contaminate_ you, instead of just stealing energy. They sullied you by using you like batteries for their... _modest_, at best, highest forms, by forcing you to fuse with them. It's a pity that the idiot gods decided to forfeit your lives for their own sake-"

"Shut up!" Egakumon yelled, and before anyone could stop him the little rabbit was running forward, his hand reared back and beginning to glow with code. "**Pummel Claw**!"

As fast as Egakumon could move, Era just needed to lift one hand again, as he had before. Where his hand stopped in the air, a holographic keyboard appeared; one flick of his hand, just one keystroke, and it was as though Egakumon had hit a wall, or some sort of invisible barrier, some ten feet away from the man himself. His claw hit empty air and he was forced backwards in the most undignified way, and he stumbled backwards to where the group stood still. Simon was quick to stabilize him; the rabbit was not hurt, merely disconcerted.

"Don't you dare," Era hissed quietly, his eyes narrowing as he locked his gaze on Egakumon. "You will not touch me, nor will you even _think_ to." The holographic keyboard flickered out of existence again as he moved his hand away. He was almost disconcertingly still; he was still sitting slack, still shrouded in the dark. "Not that it will be an issue in a moment, of course, but good manners are important regardless. So blame them, not me, for your demise." Era looked back up at the group. "If not for them, I would have offered you _salvation_."

"And do you think we'd have taken it?" Luke said, his voice quiet but every word was spoken with total conviction. Era pointedly did not look at him, and so he continued. "You think that, at the end of everything we've been through, the only thing we'd care about would be self-preservation?"

It wasn't about the digital world anymore; it wasn't about the real world anymore. It hadn't been for a long time.  
>It was about their friends. It was about their partners, and it was about the digimon that had helped them along the way, and that had fallen - and those that still fought on.<p>

If becoming a part of their digimon had forfeited an empty self-serving way to make everything they had gone through all for naught, then they were happier for it.

"Hmm."  
>The man paused for a second, and shook his head.<br>"You've taken their bait, then. I'm not surprised," Era said, his voice even in such a calculated way that it immediately betrayed a seething rage, bubbling just below the surface. "It's a pity."

Once more, he lifted a hand, and once more, a holographic keyboard appeared to meet his fingers. "But you _are_ just in time."

The moment he said that, something changed. All around them, the tingling feeling - the overflowing energy - suddenly became overwhelming, to the point where it verged on unbearable. The digimon snarled and spat and hissed like wild animals; the kids clutched their heads and covered their eyes, teeth gritted to hold back cries of surprise and something that wasn't quite _pain_. The children were rooted to the spot; there was some invisible force trying to force them back, unrelenting and powerful like the rapids of a river.  
>Era, for his part, was either unaffected, or amazing at keeping his composure; his eyes stayed fixed on the brilliantly bright thing, an uneven smile splitting his face.<p>

If they were watching Era (though few were; the surge of power, of energy, made their vision slide out of focus, and the light was suddenly vividly bright), they would see that he had gotten silently to his feet. The light that had illuminated him from above was now in his hands- or rather, floating between his hands, held in front of him. It was a swirling mass of data, so bright they couldn't look at it. All of this energy and data was compressed into a thing whose shape they wouldn't be able to make out, but was remarkably small in size- only a foot or so long.

The digimon seemed to not be in control of themselves. Their pupils were narrowed; those with claws seemed like they were trying to dig them into the solid stone floor. They reared down, reacting on pure instinct- not only the energy pulsing through them sending their senses awry, but also the sense that whatever was in front of them was not meant to be.  
>Most odd was that the children could feel it, as well; it was a sickly sort of gut feeling, of primal rage and fear with no discernible origin.<p>

It felt like _hate_- like pure, unadulterated hate, coursing through every fiber of their being, rushing through every vein.

After what felt like forever - when in reality, it was hardly 30 seconds - it began to die down. Though they had no way to tell, all of the energy was being pulled back into its source.

Slowly, the kids were able to look; the digimon stayed tense, even as their pupils dilated once more. All fourteen of them, digimon and child alike, shook uncontrollably. They heaved heavy breaths, as though they had run marathons; their hearts thumped against their chests like the beating of war drums.

It was hard to see, but in Era's arms was a _thing_. It was small, the size of a human baby at best. In fact, it bore some resemblance to an infant- in only the most cursory and grotesque of ways.  
>Its body was translucent and pinkish; it had no skeletal structure to speak of, only a bare nervous cord running down its dorsal side. It had only the most vestigial of arms, and no legs to speak of; instead, its lower half tapered into a curved tail. It was positioned in some vague parody of the fetal position.<br>Its head was too big for its body, and entirely covered in bandages- except for one eye. Said eye swiveled to look at the children and digimon, staring and unblinking- deep red with a ring of vivid yellow around a too-tiny pupil, and entirely too large. On its head were thin extensions, three per side, looking almost like the external gills of an axolotl; three similar protrusions ran down its back.  
>Making it worse was the fact that its entire body occasionally throbbed and pulsated gently; this alone, even disregarding its grotesque appearance, would have solidly cemented it as one of the most unnerving things the group had ever seen. But no, that was it in its entirety; it was a deformed fetus, held gently in a megalomaniac's arms.<p>

The kids' D-GEARs lit up like they did when a hostile was near- but before they could read anything out, they suddenly began to buzz and screech, an unholy noise, as though they were crashing.  
>They were being fed the data of a digimon they couldn't understand.<br>It was a _digimon._

Of freaking course it was.

To be perfectly honest, it was pretty dang unsettling.

"What is _that_?" Simon said, pulling a face.

"Perfection," Era said in return, cool and calm. "It will make me a _god_."

"That is not what I'd call perfect," Faris mumbled.

"That's what he was using the cores for," Iguamon said suddenly, eyes narrowed.

"What?" Julian said, not taking his eye off of Era.

"... to create something incredibly powerful," Lammon said, catching on. She cast a look at the dinosaur, who nodded once; the sheep looked then back at the little creature in Era's arms.

That... _thing_ contained the raw power of the cores of four sovereigns.  
>... fantastic.<p>

Rajamon growled, rearing down. "You're going to have to do better than that thing!" the tiger snarled, rearing his head back. "**Prince Fire**!" he said, forming a fireball in his mouth and spitting it at the tiny digimon in Era's arms.  
>The little thing made a rattling hissing noise, its one visible eye rolling up.<p>

They didn't see a thing actually _happen_, but the fireball was engulfed by white light and vanished- and then Rajamon screamed in pain, his entire body convulsing. Parts of him began to visibly 'glitch', bursts of data glowing on his body before fading. Andrea gave an inarticulate yell, kneeling down next to the tiger almost immediately. The air around them felt strange- like the space around them was warping.

"It's not even complete yet," Era murmured- his voice sounded downright giddy.  
>The glee in his voice was not a comfort.<br>"It's not even _done yet_," he reiterated. There was a wild, wolfish look in his eye; the faintest of smiles tugged up one corner of his mouth. "Do you understand what this means?"

"That you have serious problems, yeom?" Delfinimon offered through clenched teeth; she was trembling with rage.

"It means _I win_," Era answered his own question with no regard for the dolphin's comment, laughing breathily.

"You think this is going to be enough to stop us?" Andrea said, looking still at Rajamon; the cat was a bit rattled, but got to his feet. "You're out of your mind."

"You haven't won yet," Simon said after a second; beside him, Egakumon gripped his paintbrush tightly. One by one, each pair of kid and digimon stood a little taller, felt a little stronger.

Emily looked to the goggle-wearing boy, and nodded, placing a hand on Kamomon's head. "We've come _way_ too far to back down now."

"Even if it's hopeless," Toby said, frowning, "we won't just stop."

"And just because you have a demon-fetus- that don't mean jack to us," Faris said, smiling a bit despite himself.

"We'll do as we always have," Julian picked up, putting his hands in his pockets.

Luke, for his part, was quiet. He still held Javermon's egg in his arms; he looked down at it, then closed his eyes and breathed out heavily. "We can't afford to lose," he said, lifting his head and opening his eyes only after he spoke. "We're not going to."

Era quite pointedly said nothing, merely looking at the group with the trace of a smile on his lips.

At present, the kids D-GEAR units were still glitching out, trying to process the data from Era's creation. But the data flooding forth from the fetus, jamming their digivices, was exactly what enabled what happened next- and quite tellingly, Sampamon slithered down off of Luke's shoulders and onto the floor.

With a roar and a hiss and a growl, the digimon began to glow and change form.

Within a matter of second, the digimon changed to their adult forms- and didn't stop there. Only when seven perfect level digimon stood where seven child levels had been moments before did the light fade from their bodies.  
>They felt tired; they felt they were working on borrowed energy, a lucky surge. They did not expect that anything would come of this; if it could so easily toss Rajamon around, so effortlessly, then they didn't expect to do anything. It was simply that they <em>refused<em> to go down without a fight.

Era still said nothing, his face all but frozen, contemplative.

"Do we attack?" Nimbimon said, tone low.

"Yes," StarShokunimon replied with a single nod, his sword-blade shining white as he surged forward.  
>What happened next was a flurry of activity; everything happened so fast, it was almost impossible to keep track of it.<p>

Every one of the seven digimon let loose an attack- a Starlight Blade from Shokuminon, a Bagha Comet from BurningBaghamon. Ospreymon flapped up a whirlwind of ice and snow with a Gale Storm, while both of WarTriassimon's heads spewed red and blue flame with Double Helix. Nimbimon's Orb Bomb sent streaks of light cutting through the dark; the MetalShayumon's Seeker Torpedoes were quick to home in on Era and the strange digimon, accompanied by the colourful blast of energy that was HebiDramon's Nightfall Sniper.

Just as effortlessly as it had extinguished Rajamon's Prince Fire, the strange fetus digimon merely began to make a sound like a rattling breath. Its eye rolled back, and just like that, every single attack was stopped cold in its tracks. It was like the energy was sapped away in an instant- whether it was light sheathing a sword or the actual physical torpedoes, it was up and gone.  
>And in the time it took any of the onlookers to notice this, the digimon themselves began to snarl and hiss in pain as their bodies began to convulse wildly, thrown backwards by some unseen force. Once again, it felt like the world around them was beginning to warp out of shape around them, and they began to visibly distort with bursts of data. Within seconds, they were reduced back down to their Child forms, and were laid out flat and quite inelegantly on the floor. They sucked in heaving breaths, crying out with pain as their bodies shuddered and glitched; their partners were immediately by their sides, kneeling on the ground.<p>

It had all been for nothing. They couldn't say they didn't expect it, but it didn't ease it.

Era said nothing. The digimon he held was shuddering slightly; one corner of his the man's lips was quirked upwards.

"You'll die a nameless death, just as the others," he drawled. "Game over."  
>He shifted the fetus to one arm, and dragged a hand through the air; under his fingers, projected inputs appeared silently, read his hand's motion. The fetus's eye swivelled down to stare at the children and digimon one last time, before, with a flurried flash of data, Era was gone.<p>

For a few seconds, it was totally silent, and they were left sitting in the dark.

"_No_," Simon hissed. "_No!_" he repeated, now a ragged yell that tore its way out his throat as he slammed a fist into the jagged stones of the floor, and he stayed in that position, chest heaving with every breath. With no other way to channel his frustration, he pulled his goggles off his head, throwing them to the ground; they clattered skittered off a few feet, but were relatively unharmed when they came to a stop in the dust.  
>Nobody said anything. The red-head's frustrated outburst neatly encapsulated what was on all of their minds- frustration and pain and not knowing where they went from here.<p>

They were left sitting in the dark- seven digimon whose attacks had been neutralized, who had been thrown back like ragdolls. Seven children who didn't know what they were supposed to do. Era was gone, with- even in an unfinished form, something that was ludicrously powerful. He had played them- they didn't know to what ends, but Era had clearly been in total control of the situation (and if he wasn't, then he was a flawless actor.

Slowly, Simon leaned back, then reached up to his head, he pulled his beanie off. He ran a hand backwards through his disheveled mane of hat-hair, breathing out heavily. He looked up after a moment; once again, all eyes were on him.  
>"... I got nothing," he admitted, shaking his head; it sounded like even saying the words pained him. "Anyone got any ideas?" Though he would surely deny it later, his eyes were <em>so slightly<em> wet with tears of frustration.

And it fell silent again. The children looked down, their gaze on the dusty floor. _They didn't know what to do,_ not even the slightest idea, and the unbearable weight of that statement weighed down on their shoulders for the first time. What _could_ they do- try to chase after Era? What, while he still had the demon-fetus that could stop seven Perfect-levels dead in their tracks with a twitch?

"... Are we going to let this be what brings us down?" Rajamon said, pressing his nose against Andrea's hand; she looked at him, then slowly shook her head 'no' in response to his question.

"You said it yourself," Kamomon said, shaking his head defiantly as he turned to Emily, who frowned and blinked a couple times. With a bit of a struggle, he kicked off the ground, flapping his wings to stay aloft. "We've come too far to quit now."

Lammon nodded, getting to her feet and pressing her head against Toby's hand. He flinched his hand away, tense, but relaxed a second later. "It's not hopeless yet; we haven't done all of this for nothing," the sheep said quietly.

"It doesn't matter what he has on his side. We've got something he doesn't, yeom," Delfinimon said, laying her head down on Faris' lap. When the boy was about to answer with a quip, the dolphin shook her head. "Each other. I know, it's sappy, but it's true."

Iguamon looked at Julian wordlessly; once again, as they ever did, they exchanged silent looks, but after a tense moment, the dinosaur spoke. "We will find a way. That is not a possibility; it is a certainty. Era works alone; he spurns support from others. We, however, do not." Iguamon looked pointedly at his partner at that last bit.

Sampamon nudged her head against Luke's side; he was, for lack of a better term, _zoned out_, staring at the floor. "We can't afford to lose," she said quietly, recalling his words from mere minutes before. "We're not going to."

It was Egakumon who spoke last; he quietly stepped over to where Simon had thrown his goggles, and picked them up. With one furry forearm he wiped them clean, then looked solemnly at Simon. "He hasn't won yet," the rabbit said. "We're not gonna let him."

Simon paused, looking around. Each child was allowing their partner's words to sink in, silent.  
>It still felt so hopeless, but it was hard to argue with the earnestness of the digimon; they spoke with such conviction that it was hard not to let at least some of it sink in.<p>

Andrea was the first to actually get to her feet, dusting herself off and heaving a sigh. "I don't know about you guys. But all this has made me want is to kick his face in even more than before." She paused, and looked at Rajamon, then around at the others. After a bit of hesitation, she continued. "I wouldn't take any of this back, even if I got the chance to."

"Nor would I," Emily said with a nod as she got up. "It's been crazy, there's no doubt about that, but the train hasn't gone off the tracks yet. We're still alive. We still got a chance, you know?"

"Keeping on like this is a lot easier said than done," Faris conceded, placing a hand on Delfinimon's head. "But... you know, we've been through too much to call it quits, just because he's pulled something unexpected on us. Everything has a weakness. Even - heck _especially_ - super-powered fetus things." Pause. "Seriously, that thing is creepy."

"Era thinks he's more in control of every situation than he is," Luke said, looking at Javermon's egg in his arms. "He thinks that he's strong enough that the flaws in his plans don't matter, and he gets sloppy when things start working his way. There's got to be a way around it."

"We'll find a way," Toby confirmed, quiet and sincere; Julian said nothing, merely looked to the younger boy and nodded before turning his gaze meaningfully to Simon.

Simon looked at the goggles in his hand and frowned, thinking hard.

It wasn't just about them anymore- it wasn't even just about the digital world. Era was on the cusp of destroying more than he understood; they were needed now more than ever. Any mistakes they made, any failures that had brought them down- they were nothing compared to this.  
>This was why they were here.<p>

Still gripping his hat in one hand, Simon looked to the others, digimon and human alike. One by one, he got thumbs ups, nods, smiles; with a smile that was more confident than he really felt, he returned a thumbs-up to the group on the whole, before pulling his goggles over his hair and onto his forehead once more.

* * *

><p>They rested only briefly; they figured that they had been on their feet for entirely too long, and so the entire party slept lightly in Era's throneroom. When they woke, they felt bizarrely rejuvenated, entirely awake and wholly aware- perhaps it was the adrenaline.<br>Almost immediately upon awakening, they began their trek out of the now-empty cathedral stronghold. It felt like it took much less time to get out than it did to get in; perhaps it was because instead of tense silence, they were chatting, talking, making plans and discussing what to do. Where Era was headed was an obvious answer (Yggdrasil, wherever it may lay), but the matter of getting there themselves to head him off was another entirely.

Before long, they were walking out the heavy, looming front doors; ahead of them stretched the floating rocks that stretched over the chasm, and further than that, the wasteland they had trekked through just the day before. It was morning. The wind was died down; it was calm, and the cloud cover seemed a little thinner than usual, allowing the light of the sun to peek through the red-violet haze a bit more.  
>They made their way back across, but they stopped at the far lip of the chasm to look behind them at the abandoned fortress.<p>

The wind howled in the distance.

Simon ran a hand backwards through his hair again, getting accustomed to the feel of not having a hat on. He gripped the beanie hat in one hand, and for a split, impulsive moment, he considered throwing it into the abyss. He dismissed the thought, instead wadding his signature hat into a ball and pocketing it in one of the deep pockets of his shorts.  
>He adjusted the goggles that sat on his forehead, and looked to the group.<p>

"Let's go."


	46. Chapter 46: A Call to Arms

_A/N: Sorry about the false alarm last night, guys. I just realized that I haaated the way the chapter ended, but was too tired to re-write it yet, so I had to take it down before too many people saw it. This one's the legit deal._

_So, I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, and I'm going to attempt to write (not publish, but write) the rest of this story before the end of July... so if you could review and give me some encouragement, cough cough, that'd be A+._

* * *

><p>The group spent three solid days on the move.<p>

They spent much of the first two days merely trekking across the Barren Lands- they forced their way through, even when the winds acted up and digimon attacked. They sped up their time by piling onto BurningBaghamon, HebiDramon, Nimbimon, and in Julian's case Velocimon's, backs. This had a notable secondary reason, as well: even when they had tried to stay hidden, it seemed like the wild digimon were a bit more pro-active. Even if the party tried to stay out of trouble, it found them, and seemed intent on trying to impale them, pummel them, liquify them with acid, or something equally unpleasant; having more of the digimon in a battle-ready state helped them save time and unnecessary wear-and-tear.  
>(They would have employed Rocmon, or even Ospreymon, but the bird was quick to remind them that the chances of the wind sending them awry were fairly close to one. Considering that their idea of where to go was vague at best, this was just a recipe for disaster.)<p>

Near the end of the second day, they passed into a proxy area- a cave-mouth inconspicuous in the face of a spire of rock that was visible from miles away. ("Always subtle, the digital world is," Faris remarked.) They had no choice but to pass through, having no better idea of where to go. Inside, it was just like old times; a sprawling web of cramped tunnels, claustrophobic and dark. It was a maze, but it was not terribly long, nor terribly eventful; it just involved a lot of accidentally crashing into walls and each-other when they ran into dead-ends and had to backtrack their way back to the last fork and take the other path.

When they emerged, it was almost shocking to note the contrast. They stood on a steeply-sloping hill; they had to quickly adjust their footing and dig their heels in, so as not to slide downhill. They were surrounded by trees both living and felled- tall trees bearing leaves and fruit, hollow trunks covered with moss laying horizontal on the ground, and everything in between. The air was crisp and light; the sun was sinking behind them, casting long shadows in the orange light and cutting through a cloudless sky. A slow-moving river cut through the bottom of the wide valley, making lazy turns. Every inch of the area around them thrummed with life and activity- bird digimon flying and singing their songs, more mammalian digimon padding through the underbrush, bug digimon buzzing away contently. The wind was not harsh and gritty, but a gentle cool breeze.

And of course, weirdest of all, Simon was still going hatless.

Compared with the lifelessness and harshness of the Barren Lands, this new place was overflowing with energy- it was almost shocking.

"The Timeless River," Iguamon provided, closing his eyes.

"The first, and the last," Kamomon added. "This was the first place in the digital world to be created, except for Yggdrasil's hollow, which it surrounds; digimon live and die here, but it stays as it ever has been."

"Whoa," Emily said, looking around. Plant life (and some plant digimon, at that) was everywhere, but while much of it was alive, it indeed, it looked as though everything was frozen in time, captured in a picturesque state. It was paradoxical; unchanged but more alive than anything the children had ever seen, in this world or in theirs.

In a word... it was beautiful.

"It's untouchable," Rajamon said, smiling faintly- almost sadly. "It stood on Era's doorstep, but he could never so much as scratch it. It is under Huanglongmon's guardianship, directly."

They didn't know why this world was still intact, in light of that thing - they knew it was a digimon, but it didn't seem like one - that Era had. It was a reality warping abomination, by all respects- he should have already taken Yggdrasil. If Rajamon's words were true, was it Huanglongmon's protection that was keeping Era and his demon-fetus away?  
>They could only pray it was- and that it would hold.<p>

"I don't know about you guys," Egakumon said, breaking through their reveries. He twirled his paintbrush, then tucked it for safekeeping between his belt and his belly, "but I'm not stopping now. We going?"

Well, there was no arguing with that. 

* * *

><p>One pair of eyes looked skyward and narrowed slowly, thoughtful.<p>

"Are they here?"

A heavy silence followed; all eyes were on him.

"Yes," he said after a moment. "Be prepared." 

* * *

><p>The group of kids and digimon descended the hill, and slowly the ground evened out the closer they got to the river.<p>

"So... where do we go?" Toby said, looking around as he dug his heels into the dirt and came to a stop. "Uhm... not to sound, rude, or anything."

"Yeah, no offense taken," Simon replied, looking around. "You said that this place surrounds the tree, right?"

"Something to that effect, though the spatial relationship is likely not quite so literal," Sampamon provided.

"In English, yeom?" Delfinimon said from her place (of course) in Faris' arms, rolling her eyes.

The snake smiled in return, closing her eyes. "I do not know how literally the Timeless River truly surrounds the Sacred Hollow. Does that help?"

"Insofar as it means we have no idea where to go or what to do, yes," Faris replied, deadpan as anything.

"You realize we have a bird who can fly now," Andrea said, pointedly looking at Kamomon; the bird jumped a bit when he realized he was being addressed, but he puffed his chest out and nodded.

"At your service," Kamomon said with a little bow, chuckling and looking to Emily. "If you would be so kind as to lend me the power?" The girl nodded, lifting her D-GEAR. It began to glow, and Kamomon followed suit.  
>"Kamomon, kickstart digivolve to... Kaizokumon!" He did not stop growing, but as he took his taller form, he grabbed Emily by the hand; she nodded. "Kaizokumon, virtuous digivolve to..." Before he took full form of his Perfect level, he leapt into the air, spreading his arms as they shifted into wings, and Emily swung herself to be seated on the newly-forming digimon's back. "Ospreymon!"<p>

The kids and digimon alike looked up; the tree's foliage wasn't terribly obstructing, so they could see the bird clearly. He looked down at them, hovering in place. "Ah'll do a quick scouting," Ospreymon assured them.

"Shouldn't take more than a minute or five," Emily said with a smile. "Keep going, no point in wasting time; we'll find you."

With that, the bird and the girl took off to do a quick sweep of the area. As instructed, those left on the ground walked on in an arbitrary direction (towards the river) for a short time.

"Don't you find it interesting?" Lammon said after a lengthy silence. It wouldn't have been hard to miss her voice, but they heard her loud and clear over the quiet serenity of the area around them.

"What's interesting?" Toby asked.

Looking to her partner, the sheep elaborated. "We are able to share energy freely; we can digivolve even when there is no immediate danger. We've come quite a way."

"I'm gonna say at least part of that is due to the whole fusing with you bit," Andrea remarked, casting a fond look at the cat beside her.

"And not only that, but it had the added benefit of putting us soundly on Era's bad side," Simon remarked, putting his hands behind his head.

"More on his bad side than we already were," Luke corrected, shifting Javermon's digitama in his arms (he had been carrying it this entire time, though if asked he couldn't say quite why he felt obligated to do so).

"Well, yeah," the red-head admitted, shrugging one shoulder.

"But still," Lammon said. "Even before we digivolved to Mega. We wouldn't have been able to digivolve with you if we couldn't share energy freely even without some sort of connection."

"The sovereigns have a sorry sense of humor, then," Julian said, matter of factly; Iguamon cast a sidelong glance at him, but the said nothing. A number of the others had no such problem, and indeed seemed quite primed to make comments, but something happened to take their attention off of the subject at hand.

That being, Ospreymon letting loose a loud keen from above them to try and catch their attention. Catch their attention it did; every eye was turned skyward, where the avian was staying in the air- primed for a battle, if he had to do it.

"Guys," Emily called down, cupping one hand around her mouth, "something's going on!"

Well, that wasn't vague at all.

But they weren't going to take any chances- not now. All six children on the ground got their digivices ready, while their partners tensed up and prepared themselves. They could hear it; from further into the trees, what sounded like a small army was approaching them. It was a mess of noise- feet beating on the ground, the wings of both birds and bugs fluttering and buzzing (respectively).

"I am really not in the mood for another seven-on-fifty-thousand brawl," Faris mumbled, looking at his D-GEAR as though it would give him the answers. He - and all of them - were still thinking of the chaos of the battle outside of Era's cathedral.

"To be perfectly fair," Delfinimon remarked, smiling just a bit, "it was really only seven on, oh, two hundred and seventeen, yeom."

Carefully and gingerly, the group began to move forward; the oncoming forces were advancing fast, and they were unwilling to be caught by surprise.

Of course, they were caught by surprise anyway, despite their best intentions.

Before too long, the small group spilled into a treeless glade of tremendous size; all the way, they could hear the sounds approaching them growing louder and more urgent. Ospreymon alighted next to them, quickly de-digivolving to Kamomon so he could digivolve together with Emily if need be.  
>The moment they entered the clearing, however, everything went totally, utterly silent. For perhaps thirty seconds, they waited, tense, with bated breath.<p>

And then, from every crevice and nook and cranny in the trees, digimon emerged on the other side of the clearing.

They could see Loromon perched in a tree- with a dozen others of his kind in the branches alongside him. A veritable hoard of Gekomon and Otamamon poked out of the bushes, and then the tremendous, unmissable form of ShogunGekomon peeked out from behind the tallest trees some ways back in the woods. Bouncing heads of every size and shape gathered around, corralled in and watched over by Piximon and Lopmon. Every size and shape of insect digimon - whom Emily and Faris were quick to recognize from their stint in the jungle - emerged, from small enough to fit in hollowed logs to too large to miss flying above the trees.  
>A bipedal blue dinosaur in armor - Marinemon - threw a cheerful salute, while a small pink-and-yellow rabbit poked her nose out from the shrubs. Palmon and Floramon seemed to pop out of the scenery as they began to move, accompanied by Woodmon and Veggiemon, and Gotsumon stood beside, waving quite enthusiastically. Towards the edges and still half in the shadows was a small black Ichimon; aside him stood a little purple and black wyvern-like dragon they were not quite familiar with.<p>

But it didn't even stop there- digimon of whom they had far less pleasant memories filled out the ranks. A herd of Armadillomon, led by a lone Ankylomon; Deputymon, standing by Kokatorimon; Gargoylemon was flanked on either side by Wizardmon and Witchmon; a trio of SkullSatamon flapped their wings to stay aloft above the trees; the list went on and on and on. They even saw a furry face they could never forget- Grizzlymon, the first digimon that the children and their partners (excepting Luke and Sampamon, of course) had ever fought.

Digimon they had helped, digimon they had fought, even digimon they had never seen before- all of them spilled out, and they got the distinct feeling that there were more waiting in the wings.

It was all but silent, despite the mass of digimon so close. The crowd parted, then, just enough for a pair of digimon to emerge from the throng- they were unmistakable.

Shamon came forth first, forward-slung and walking with his knuckles on the ground; he straightened up as he came to a stop, parting just slightly to the left. BlackWarGreymon was behind him, walking stoic and silent, looking steadfastly down at the ground instead of up. He, too, parted- just slightly to the right, leaving a space between them.

It was absolutely clear who was meant to stand between them, but for a short time it was utterly silent. A pang of panic cut through the disbelief that even Shamon and BlackWarGreymon were there, and alive and well; what happened to...?

They got their answer before they could properly complete the thought.

From out of the trees - how dramatic, how cliche - Deekamon stepped forward. Even from the other side of the glade, the group of digimon and kids could see a gleam in his eyes as he walked forward, each step made with deliberation and purpose. When he took his place standing between Shamon and BlackWarGreymon, he stopped for a moment.  
>Then, the purple-hoodied digimon bowed deep, so low that the ears on his hood nearly touched the ground at his feet.<p>

Like a ripple effect, so did Shamon and BlackWarGreymon, and then every other digimon in the area (at least, those that had the proper anatomy, namely limbs; those that were just heads, or otherwise lacked such body parts, bowed their heads).

For the group, who was expecting a fight, this was... a bit jarring.

"What's going on?" Toby said quietly, more to himself than anyone else.

"Someone's been busy, clearly," Andrea remarked, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

Simon, for his part, looked uncomfortable. They were getting the hero treatment, but they still had to actually go and take down Era. What was the deal?

"Meet the cavalry," Deekamon said, loud enough to be heard from across the clearing, as he spread his arms out wide and straightened up. 

* * *

><p>Before long, they were settled down in the clearing; the moons were beginning to rise, the last of the daylight starting to fade. The cavalry, as Deekamon had put it, had spilled more into the clearing instead of huddling around one edge. Even so, there wasn't nearly room for all of them, and even then, the larger digimon were hanging back.<p>

It felt like an honest to god war-camp.

Some digimon were setting up carefully contained campfires, under the watchful eye and advice of Shamon and BlackWarGreymon, acting like moderators and overlookers; Deekamon was weaving and bobbing in and out of the circles that were forming around the fires, keeping his eyes and ears open at all times. There was chatter and discussion everywhere one looked.

The virtue warriors, however, were all but silent, sitting around a fire near the center of the makeshift camp, sitting cross-legged on the ground. Egakumon, Rajamon, Kamomon, and Iguamon sat next to their partners on the ground; Sampamon lay coiled next to hers as well, but in her coils lay Javermon's egg. Lammon lay half on the ground and half on Toby's lap, while Delfinimon sat on Faris's lap, propped up by his arms.  
>Different questions surged through the minds of all fourteen of them, all burning to be asked and discussed and put into the open, now that they had the time to collect their thoughts.<p>

It was a heavy burden, knowing that they were the only ones there who actually knew what was going on- but really, had any clue what was going on. They couldn't claim to really understand it. More like they were the only ones who had seen what they were going up against, and even that much was foggy and unclear.

And yet, here they were, with a veritable slew of digimon on their side all of a sudden.

Piximon and Lopmon had come to greet them as they were setting up camp, and had explained what he could about one issue: the existence of digimon they had fought, ex-agents.

("Do you remember when Wizardmon and Witchmon attacked while you were at our village?" the little pink Digimon had said, flitting over with kindling for a fire. "We reclaimed their eggs. Most digimon... do not remember themselves when they are reborn." He looked pointedly, knowingly, at Sampamon, but did not comment.

"Sometimes, they choose to fight with our side upon their rebirth," Lopmon had continued. "Of course, more times than not, Era's agents beat our side to the eggs, and those eggs of any digimon his agents have felled," the brown rabbit said, shaking his head. "We've lost a number of our own, more than we've reclaimed."

"What you see here is every digimon we could muster, from every corner of our world," Piximon had finished, gesturing around. "Not every holdout, of course. Just those willing to fight.")

Well, that was one question down, but as they sat around the fire as the area around them grew darker, they had a dozen other more- and so did not notice the approach of a familiar face.

"You seem quieter than as is your norm," BlackWarGreymon remarked as he approached, footsteps surprisingly light for one of his build and size. There was a momentary pause; hearing no sign of dissent, the Mega took a seat on the ground.

"There's a lot on our minds, I think," Sampamon said, looking to Luke; the boy nodded but said nothing.

"Might I ask why, or is that no business of mine to meddle in?" BlackWarGreymon asked.

Another short silence (well, not really a silence- there was sound and activity from the groups around them, but nobody in this particular circle spoke). As it ever was, it was Egakumon to break it; the rabbit looked up, to the large dinosaur.

"What happened in the Metal City?" he asked. "I mean... not to sound like you shouldn't be here," the rabbit said, tapping his snout with one claw. "But... why are you here? You and Deekamon and Shamon."

BlackWarGreymon paused and thought. What had happened? Well, the truth...

"We decided it was for the best to... declare the City a lost cause. We ran."

"You what?" Simon blurted. BlackWarGreymon met his gaze, his face under his mask solemn.

"We were faced with a decision, and there was something more important than protecting the Sovereign. Javermon has-"

"Had," Emily corrected, gesturing with her head to the digitama that Sampamon guarded.

BlackWarGreymon closed his eyes and nodded. "Had it is. He had the power to steal the core of a Sovereign. If we stood to fight, we would have been destroyed." Not could have been, not might have been- would have been. "We... decided that we had a more important mission to complete than protecting the Sovereign."

"What could possibly be-" Kamomon started, but before he even finished speaking, he knew what BlackWarGreymon was going to say.

"Protecting you."

Well, they weren't exactly going to argue on that point.

BlackWarGreymon sighed, then continued. "We are going to do what we can to protect you from Era-"

"But you can't," Emily cut the dinosaur off, shaking her head.

The black dinosaur looked to the girl. "Do you mean we can't, as in you would not have us?"

"No, she means you can't," Andrea said. "You..." She sighed, putting an elbow on one knee and propping her head up with one hand. "We found out what Era was doing with the Sovereign cores."

"He created a digimon," Rajamon said, growling low at the memory. "Or something. I don't even know what that thing was."

"And if it had even had fingers, it would have wiped the floor with these guys without lifting one of them," Faris said, placing a hand on Delfinimon's head. BlackWarGreymon said nothing, but he quirked his head, intrigued.

And so they explained what they could- the fetus that Era had created, that it was (they had concluded as they walked) made with data siphoned through the stolen virtue and bound with the cores of the Sovereigns, of its power- and that Era said it wasn't even complete yet.

They rather forgot that the digimon around the other fires nearby could hear them too, as they were not being particularly quiet, and the story spread through the camp like wildfire.

Digimon flooded over to hear the story straight from their mouths, and the pairs of partners found themselves each telling it to a small group or two, so as to have to repeat themselves less- but the strangest thing was that Deekamon only hovered near the back of the crowd, saying nothing and not coming closer. 

* * *

><p>It was late in the night; most of the digimon were asleep, as were all of the members of the Virtue team. Only three remained awake.<p>

"You seem to be troubled," Shamon said quietly, tending to the only fire that still burned- the one at which he, BlackWarGreymon, and Deekamon now sat. "Was it the news the Virtue Warriors brought?"

"At this point," Deekamon said, "your guess is as good as mine is." The hoodied digimon sighed, looking into the flames contemplatively. "It's simply hard to imagine that soon, for better or for worse, it will all reach its peak."

"We can do nothing else now but protect them as they ride into war," BlackWarGreymon said, bowing his head. "We have played our parts."

"That is true." Deekamon paused before he spoke again. "... but still, I can't help but wonder if we could have defeated Javermon. Do you think we could have prevented this from happening?"

"Don't be a fool," Shamon admonished. "You said it yourself; we wouldn't have stood a chance, even three against one. Warriors though they may be, they are still all of them children. We must lend them our aid. That is our primary concern as given by the Sovereigns, and we would be no aid to them were we destroyed."

It wasn't just that Deekamon had said it himself; it was his reasoning and his impassioned plea to his two comrades that led them, however reluctantly, to run and live another day.

Deekamon looked to the monkey, shaking his head. "No. You are right- or, I was right." He was being only slightly sarcastic. "It would only delay the inevitable and leave them without help. I just... wonder why it had to be this way."

The black dinosaur closed his eyes; he knew the answer before he asked. "What way?"

Deekamon looked skyward. "That they will die, if the Sovereign's predictions - fears, rather - come to pass. Call it sentiment."

It wasn't particularly hard to see why he might get sentimental- he had raised the digimon from the egg, and more than that, he had grown quite attached to the children themselves. Their partner's deaths - deaths that seemed inevitable - would break their hearts even more than it broke his, even without as much history of time. It was... a hard pill to swallow.

BlackWarGreymon and Shamon's eyes were both fixed on Deekamon as he stood up, still looking up to the stars.

"We'll just have to see," Deekamon said after a moment, shaking his head as he looked to his two comrades. 

* * *

><p>It would be done soon. Those words throbbed against the inside of Era's skull, a mantra and a war-chant.<p>

It was only a matter of time. He had rallied what... forces he had. A bit inelegant, and rather slower than he'd liked - he'd had to send out scouts and messengers of his own. Perhaps, if this world continued to exist, he might have made them his next Reapers in the future.  
>But now, all that mattered now was hijacking the tree - and taking down the dragon of the center, of course.<br>That wouldn't be a problem. Yes, there had been some... unexpected delays.

Not that it would really matter.

He no longer had his Reapers; he had planned for that. Nor his headquarters; he had planned for that, too. All that mattered was his creation.

And, of course, his judgment. The judgment that this entire world would feel- would feel, he corrected himself, if they could feel.

He wouldn't lie; he almost felt bad that the human children would be taken down with it, but they were no better than the rest of the scum now. They were corrupted and tainted.  
>It would be an act of mercy to kill them. <p>

* * *

><p>The morning came; one more morning that the digital world survived to see. The sky was greyed by an early-morning fog; it would dissipate once the sun rose more, but for now, it was only barely light out.<br>But even so, the makeshift war-camp was buzzing (sometimes literally, considering the concentration of insects there) as its inhabitants stirred to wakefulness. Every digimon in the place was chattering about what they had heard the night before. A few even volunteered to leave to take news to the rest of the digital world, a few dark shapes flying off at high speed (but not nearly enough to make any noticeable dent in their numbers).

A few digimon took their chances to say hello to the digidestined and their partners, once they had stirred:

Loromon, flustered as ever, was quick on the scene to say hello and even affectionately pecked some of the digimon on the head. "Even when other digimon had lost faith in you," the parrot said, after telling of how he had helped to gather some of the digimon they saw around them now, "I never did."

"That means a lot," Simon said, voice utterly sincere, a smile on his face; Loromon puffed his chest-feathers out proudly.

Gotsumon gave an impassioned ramble punctuated with "yes"es every five words, all of which boiled down to it's been a while; you've come quite a ways, haven't you?. When he was introduced to Luke (who, really, had to be introduced to quite a few of the digimon), he looked the boy up and down, thoughtful, before concluding:  
>"Not bad, yes!"<p>

Very reluctantly, a little pink Koromon gave her respects to Toby, Julian, and their respective partners. (She beamed, though, when they seemed to remember her; "It would be difficult to forget a pink rabbit ball that evolved into a giant skeleton dinosaur," Julian had remarked, clearly taking a cue from Faris' school of snark.)

Mikemon made her way across the clearing to greet the group of children, as well. Right, before she left, however, Luke seemed conflicted.

"Hold on," he said, handing Javermon's egg off to Simon for a moment. Sampamon slithered off his shoulders and followed him as he gently pulled Mikemon aside; she was confused as anything, and couldn't be blamed for that.  
>The snake stood by as her partner knelt on the ground to be on-level with Mikemon. The boy spoke in low apologetic tones, a few yards away from the rest of the group.<p>

The other kids could not hear what was being said between them, but they could imagine it probably involved the word (name, rather) Dobermon. It ended with two things happening in very quick succession; the calico cat digimon scratching Luke across the face with one paw-gloved hand, then immediately embraced the boy around the midsection.

The other members of the group could clearly hear Luke say, sidelong to Sampamon: "I deserved that."

"Yes, you did," Mikemon replied, pulling away with a sort of half-smile; there were traces of tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away. "But it's Era's fault, not yours. Just go punch his face in for me, and we can call it even."

"I would have done that, even if you hadn't asked," Luke replied, tone dry but good-natured.

"It's what we're here to do," Sampamon added, nodding her head. "So consider it a promise."

As the cat waved goodbye, Luke remained kneeling on the ground.  
>After a moment, he raised a hand to his cheek, which now bore three shallow red scratches. "... that actually hurt," he said absently, and then began to laugh. It wasn't a bitter laugh or a sarcastic one, nor a big belly laugh, but it was a genuine chuckle.<p>

"Feel better?" Andrea said, putting a hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow, expression bemused. She was in no small part sarcastic, but the speck of sincerity in her voice did not go unnoticed by any present.

"Yes, actually," Luke said, craning his neck to look at the others. He didn't quite understand it himself, but it felt like a weight off his shoulders (ironically enough, as at that moment he lifted Sampamon to her usual position around his neck- a quite literal weight on his shoulders).

He stood just in time for another digimon to approach them.

"Do you have a moment?" Deekamon said, popping out of seemingly-nowhere. (More than a few of them jumped a bit with surprise.) His eyes flicked from one pair of partners to the next, looking at each in turn.

Simon exchanged looks with the rest of the group; after seeing no real outstanding dissent, the red-headed boy nodded on behalf of all of them. "Yeah, sure," he said. It was the first time that Deekamon had actually approached them; he had been flitting around the entire night before, as far as they could tell, and they wouldn't say no to a chance to get to talk to the closest thing they had to a mentor figure.

Deekamon led them to the edge of the clearing, just into the trees so as to get them away from the throngs of digimon; not even the most rambunctious of the rabble of digimon tried to follow, presumably knowing the weight of what was going on. They were still in full sight of the camp, but they were just barely under the canopy of the thick trees.

"What's up?" Faris asked, shifting Delfinimon in his arms.

Deekamon paused, looking at the kids again. He tapped a claw against the grin-like facemask on his hoodie, before he sighed and shook his head. "I'm bad at this."

Emily mouthed bad at what?, while Lammon and Toby exchanged somewhat confused glances. Julian folded his arms, and Andrea put her arms akimbo, but otherwise, they were just waiting for Deekamon to continue.

"What's going to happen," Deekamon said, slow, choosing his words, "is you are going to have to advance into the Sacred Hollow of Yggdrasil. We will protect you on the way there, but we cannot enter it. After that... we will guard its entrance, to keep out any of Era's forces that may try to follow you." He looked solemnly at them. "Your focus must be on keeping Era from taking the Tree." He sighed heavily. "If what you've said is true... then we have reached a situation that I have not been in for as long as I swore myself to the Sovereigns."

Slowly, Deekamon shook his head.

"I... have no idea what you're going up against. After you enter the Hollow, I cannot help you, and you cannot turn back. This may be the last time I see any of you." Pause. "... so I wanted to take a moment to say something. And trust me, I'm being honest this time. I know, crazy," he said, looking pointedly at Julian; they could almost hear the smirk, and Julian smiled faintly in return.

"I don't know what's going to happen. I can't promise you that you will be victorious. You know the weight of what is happening; I'm not going to remind you and make you feel awkward about it. All I do know is that whatever happens..." Another momentary pause; he did not look directly at any of them as he spoke, but the pairs of partners bowed their heads in turn.  
>"You have kept your heads up, even when things were most dire. You have courageously stood up to danger and injustice. You have refused to give up, even against the odds. You have trusted in your partners, in each other, and in those around you. You have shown tremendous kindness to an often-hostile world. You have always stayed on top of the situation, using what was given you; and you have fought honorably every step of the way. All of you have. No matter what happens, nobody can say you did not fight to the last."<p>

Egakumon would not make any bones about it; he was first to step forward, as he always was, and ever would be. He beamed up at Deekamon, and held out his arms. Deekamon knelt, embracing the rabbit.

One by one, every digimon followed- first Kamomon, then Sampamon (who, lacking arms, had a bit of a time returning the hug she was given, but she would not complain), followed by Iguamon, then Delfinimon, then Lammon, and then - finally, and trying to pretend his eyes were dry - Rajamon.

And, well, not wanting to be left out...

Simon was (as his partner was) the first to step forward once Rajamon stepped away, and he grinned lopsidedly as he gave the digimon who had been their guide and friend a hug. Toby followed, then Emily, then Andrea; Faris had to drag Julian, who was in the Rajamon boat of no I am not going to admit I am showing emotion thanks (but did cave, eventually). Last for the humans was Luke, who was a bit sheepish; Deekamon responded to the boy's sheepishness by taking the initiative and walking up to the boy himself. (It wore Luke down pretty quick, and he returned the gesture.)

If they had anything more to say, it went unsaid.

Not because they wanted some sort of dramatic silence, no; more out of necessity, because everything was suddenly very loud. The digimon in the war-camp were snarling, growling, buzzing, screeching, all at full volume. Even Deekamon's eyes flashed as he suddenly growled, low and animalistic, flexing his claws and hunching forward.

The partner digimon stood at their respective children's sides, bodies tense and pupils all contracted to pinpricks and slits...  
>And the oddest thing was, their human partners were much the same. It was involuntary, an animal instinct, pure reflex, and impossible to shake; it was almost as though the kids and their digimon were in synch.<p>

And why?

Well, it should have been obvious by now what was causing this- or rather, who. It was just a matter of how.  
>Deekamon's voice - which rather sounded as though he was talking through grit teeth and trying very hard to stay upright - cut through the white-noise feeling that was clouding the group's senses.<p>

"Go!"

It was one word screamed at the top of his lungs- it wasn't just a direction to the kids and their partners. It was a signal. At his word, a thousand digimon rose into the sky, bellowed and roared and began to move.

If any of the group cocked their heads up and looked above and around themselves - and they did - they would see two things. First, more positive than the other: the digimon of the camp were taking to their positions, both by foot and wing, creating a veritable wall of fighters. They were creating one last line of defense.  
>Second, and far more deeply concerning: the sky above them was warping, surging with streaks of data and distorting like graphics gone wrong.<p>

"Oh, holy crap," Faris blurted, his expression one of deep discomfort. His outburst was not audible, however, in the cacophony.

""What are we supposed to do," Emily said, furrowing her brow deep, but she already knew the answer; all of them did.

As the camp cleared out with alarming speed, soon, the seven children, the seven digimon, and the trio of Deekamon, Shamon, and BlackWarGreymon were all that remained.

All seven children reached for their D-GEARs, their partners readying themselves as the digimon in the sky dispersed.

"It has been an honor to be in your service, Virtue Warriors," BlackWarGreymon said, bowing his head.

"We have the utmost faith in your success," Shamon said, solemn, closing his eyes.

Deekamon took a moment before he spoke, then nodded his head once. "For what it's worth," he said, choosing each word carefully, "I'm proud of you." He paused for only a second, shaking his head as though shaking something off. "We'll hold it down here. Go."

"Go where?" Toby asked; Deekamon looked to the short boy.

"You'll know," he said- one last piece of cryptic advice. Behind his facemask, he smiled, just ever so sadly.

Nothing else was said; with rushes of light and sound, keening cries and roars, seven mega-level warriors took the place of the fourteen children and child-level digimon.

Moments later, they were rising into the sky. MagnaAriamon and WarTriassimon rode on Rocmon's back, while Kisekimon and ImperialBaghamon took a careful perch between Quetzacoatimon's wings. Unable to clamber onto either's back, Galeomon was riding on Rocmon's talons, holding fast to one of his legs,4 but being lifted like she weighted nothing at all. (She would not allow herself to be carried, for the sake of dignity.) Two pairs of wings beat at the air, rising upwards into the gradually-brightening sky.

At a higher vantage point, they were able to see more of what was going on- aside, of course, from the ever-worsening distortion of the sky around them - to try and get a better idea of what to do. It was almost eerily silent, all the sound and chaos that had been around them on the ground almost nonexistent here in the air.

Not to say nothing was happening, though. No, much to the contrary, everywhere they looked, they saw streams of data shoot into the air from around the edges of the area- whether they were friend or foe was impossible to tell.  
>But Deekamon was right about one thing- they would know, because something was acting very odd indeed.<p>

Instead of streaming straight into the air like they always did, the streams of data surging into the sky were moving at an arc, headed for the zenith of the sky above, above what they could only presume was the center of the river area's land, some distance away- but no problem for the two digimon in flight. (The area itself was remarkably small, by all appearances.)  
>Not surprisingly, the point the data seemed to arc towards was warping the most violently, as the streams began rushing towards it.<p>

"I'm going to guess that's our destination," ImperialBaghamon deadpanned.

Kisekimon, beside him, nodded. "Call it a hunch."

From over at Rocmon, Galeomon added her two cents, even in the otherwise dry seriousness of the situation.  
>"You guys are stealing my lines, yeom."<p>

The sky's distortion got worse by the second; every surge of glitched area acted like a ripple effect. Every few seconds, it sent out a fresh wave of the staticky feeling, coursing through the Mega digimon currently on the approach and threatening to incapacitate them.

Keyword: threatening. Never actually managing. Rocmon and Quetzacoatimon steeled themselves and flew on; their passengers held tight, setting their jaws and fighting back the instinctive feral reaction.

Inside the digimon... it didn't feel like the children were "inside the digimon" at all. There was no distinction between them at this point. They were laser-focused; every gentle adjustment of the feathers on either snake or bird; every twitch of the nose, every flick of the tail, every flared nostril, every tensed muscle, was the action of seven digimon and seven human cores working in absolute synchronization.  
>They might have thought it surreal, if they didn't have far more pressing matters to attend to, and moreover, dedicate their attentions to.<p>

If ever there was a time to fight, it was now. 

* * *

><p>Still holding the fetus-like digimon in his arms, Era looked skyward; he was standing on a hilltop, and positioned directly underneath the apex of data- the point towards which the so-called warriors were rushing. His face was impassive. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the dark shapes flying at breakneck speed towards him.<p>

In his arms, the little creature rolled its eyes back and let loose a rattling hiss.

For a second - only a second - the glitched distortion of the sky stopped. Era's lips quirked upwards in a smile.

And then, the sky began to tear apart at the seams. 

* * *

><p>"Oh, holy crap," Galeomon blurted, an echo of Faris' words from not that long ago. From the sky, the view was spectacular- in a sort of horrifying, the world is breaking kind of way. The sky was ripping apart in streaks, pixellated and shifting erratically, revealing something behind it.<p>

Beyond the sky itself, in the darkness, were rivers surging data and and oceans of shining light. Every so often, it shifted- and they could catch glimpses of a titanic, shining-white tree of life in the distance. Some of its branches curled downwards and joined with its roots; more, however, merely stretched on into infinity, fading into the darkness, in every direction. A huge dark thing curled around the middle of the tree's trunk, indistinct and almost drowned out by the light.  
>It was unmistakable.<p>

Behind the sky of the Timeless River was the sacred hollow of Yggdrasil.

And Era had just forced the gates open.


	47. Chapter 47: Knocking on Heaven's Door

_A/N: Four chapters left. Holy shit._

_to the two reviewers who left reviews on last chapter: aaa both of your reviews made me so happy. Thank you so much for enjoying what I do, and for leaving such articulate and kind words here. Still chugging away at Camp NaNo. Reviews are still excellent and encouraging, but not strictly required. With no further ado: onwards._

* * *

><p>Around the trunk of Yggdrasil slept Huanglongmon, the great dragon of the center. Even Azulongmon's size would pale in comparison; it was absolutely unthinkable in size- fitting, of course, for the creature that encircled Yggdrasil itself. Every inch of its titanic body was plated in gold-coloured ore. Twelve identical red cores sat alongside the spikes running down its spine, and eight red eyes - two aligned lengthwise on its forehead, and three on either side of its head proper - stayed tightly shut.<p>

Or, well, they _had stayed_ tightly shut for quite some time. Funnily enough, having the barrier hiding the core of the digital world broken apart was a big deal, and might wake up the primary guardian of said core.

The final sovereign's eyes snapped open, searing red. It let loose a roar, rumbling from deep down in its throat.

* * *

><p>The dragon's roar was not only <em>heard<em> on the other side of the rift; it was felt. It shook every molecule of air, a tremor that shot straight to the core of every digimon in the river valley, no matter whose side they were fighting on.

"This cannot be a good sign," MagnaAriamon murmured, gripping her staff tight, once she could hear herself speak again.

"How are we supposed to get through, though?" Kisekimon asked, cupping his hand over his mouth, in order to be heard by Rocmon and his passengers.

"I'm going to guess flying straight through is a bad idea, yeom," Galeomon said, looking down to the ground, narrowing her eyes and scanning the ground. "... hey! Psycho alert at 1 o' clock."

"Fantastic," Quetzacoatimon said, that one word said absolutely deadpan and dripping with irony.

"What is he _doing_?" ImperialBaghamon spat, narrowing his eyes, a lip curling back.

In his arms, Era still held the little digimon- barely visible, yes, but visible, cradled in a way that was, quite honestly, kind of unnervingly gentle.

"I suppose that means nothing's eaten it yet," WarTriassimon drawled, "or him. Pity, that."

"_That_ could be arranged, yeom," Galeomon replied, looking sidelong at the dinosaur.

"We have to head him off," Kisekimon said, decisive and sharp, voice cutting through the comments around him. No sooner than he said that, though, they looked down again. Era's head was cocked up, looking to them.

The fetal creature then began to screech, the noise piercing and sharp as daggers, beginning to glow faintly- just like a D-GEAR initiating digivolution, not that any of the team were exactly in the place to make the comparison.

Before they knew what was happening, a stream of data surged down from the rift, hitting the tiny digimon. It was not unlike the streams of data that shot into the sky when a digimon was defeated, but instead of data being taken back to the tree, it was instead clearly being taken from the tree. Through the tears in the sky, they could see the data being leeched away from Yggdrasil itself.

Era took a step back, letting go of the thing- it hung suspended a few feet off the ground, hanging in the stream of light.  
>The man continued looking up to the warriors. Even though it was tiny and faint, and at great distance below them, they swore they could see a horrid smile creep its way onto the man's features.<p>

"Go! _Now_!" Kisekimon cried, but he hardly needed to give the order.

Rocmon and Quetzacoatimon keened and roared, respectively, before surging forward, heavy wings beating at the air, sending a flurry of leaves into the air from the trees beneath them.

Galeomon leapt from her place clinging to Rocmon's leg, and fell to the ground- and indeed, felled quite a few trees on her landing, being approximately the size of a bus and all that, before charging forward. Kisekimon drew both his swords, and with flashes of fire ImperialBaghamon was armed with all four scimitars as both leapt from Quetzacoatimon's back; MagnaAriamon's transparent wings expanded in size as her staff began to glow, and WarTriassimon leapt from Rocmon's back with the business end of his spear pointed directly at Era.

One second, everything was a surge of energy and pure chaos as they fell to the earth, and acting as one, rushed at Era and his abomination of a creation, preparing attacks.

But before any one of the seven could get close enough to land a hit, the tear in the sky seemed to hit its limit. Perhaps the data rushing out was too much; perhaps the creature _recieving_ the data was causing the distortion.

Whatever the reason, the sky ripped wide open. For a second, it was brilliantly, blindingly bright- and then, to the casual observer, all of them - abomination, megalomaniac, and warriors alike - were gone.

* * *

><p>They did not pass out or fall out of consciousness; they were still very much aware.<br>It was just that everything was suddenly very quiet and devoid of any sense of bearing.

"What's going on _now_," ImperialBaghamon growled.

Everything was... dark. Yet, it wasn't. He could see the other six members of his team quite well enough, clear as day, but they were standing... for lack of a better word, _suspended_ in a dark expanse of space, with no visible ground or sky or even any source of light, but a clear horozontal plane for them to stand on- or rather, for them to lie, crumpled, on.  
>Even the tiger's voice seemed to be eaten up by the darkness as soon as he voiced his thoughts.<p>

"Stay calm," MagnaAriamon said. She felt... intimidated, to say the least, but would not let it show. (Within the sheep's core, Toby's remark ran something like: _I... think the dark is the least of our problems right now..._; he would not allow his fear to overtake them.) She got to her feet, using her staff as a support, and extended a hand to Kisekimon to pull the rabbit samurai to his feet; a good twenty feet away, ImperialBaghamon heaved himself onto his feet, while WarTriassimon moved smoothly from a heap on the ground to a kneeling position to stand. Meanwhile, Rocmon righted himself, and Galeomon pushed herself upright with a groan.

Quetzacoatimon narrowed her eyes, looking around as she oriented herself. Even she, a creature blessed with the element of darkness, a dweller in shadow, could see and sense nothing here. "Where are we?"

"Either Era has done something," Kisekimon began, "or we are-"

The group got their answer within the space of the next half-second, cutting off Kisekimon's sentence- but had he spoken, he would have been correct.

The darkness was split by blinding light- and once more, they saw the tree. It was unspeakably, _unthinkably_ huge, the size of a mountain and then some. Every inch of it surged with data, searing white in the darkness and constantly moving. It was not truly a tree, no physical thing at all- no, it was merely the shape that the streams of data took. They were standing (floating) underneath the arches of the branches that joined with its roots, on a plane just below the center; they crisscrossed, soaring overhead and far below them. Everything beyond it was pure black, not brightened by the light of the digital world's core.

And coiled around its center was the titanic golden dragon, Huanglongmon.  
>The seven warriors bowed their heads instinctively. Not just out of respect (though there was a healthy amount of that), but also because it was hard to look upon her- her size was intimidating, true (though even she was dwarfed by the tree itself); but eight furious red eyes were searing down at them, every one of her low rumbling breaths shaking them to the core.<p>

It was not an actual physical _sound_ that spoke to them- it was a voice, presumably projected into their minds- just as it had when they had seen Zhuqiaomon, and Azulongmon before him, only stronger, more powerful, more dominating of every single thought. (What-they-could-only-assume-was) Huanglongmon's voice rumbled with authority, every word carrying unimaginable weight.

_Be not afraid, Warriors._

They were told not to fear, but that - funnily enough - did not actually make them relax. This, as it turned out, was well-justified.

"Oh, no, think they _should_ start being afraid now, don't you?"

Era spoke in utterly-even tones as he emerged from the darkness. He walked, slow and deliberate, arms outstretched downwards with palms facing forward, as though he had nothing to hide. All seven warriors turned their backs to Huanglongmon to gaze upon him, feeling an animal rage somewhere deep inside.  
>He was not smiling, nor frowning- he merely looked dead-set and focused. Notably, he was no longer carrying the fetus-like digimon- that was cause for significant concern.<p>

_So the heretic at last shows his face at god's door,_ Huanglongmon's voice boomed, as close to condescending as a voice as commanding and mighty as hers could be.

Era looked up unflinchingly, his face still as stone. "And shall pass divine judgment on the foul beast playing god," he chimed back, "and shall take his rightful place."

If any if any of the fourteen individuals comprising the seven mega-level digimon had held onto _any_ doubt that Era was grade-A insane, it was gone.

_If we attack,_ WarTriassimon's voice said, tone even, within his core, speaking to his partner, _it would likely be a trap. Correct?_

"He would never come unarmed," Julian concurred from within the dinosaur's core. When Galeomon took one heavy step forward, then, WarTriassimon held out one hand and shook his head just once; the shark growled, but nodded, halting her movements.

_Not to be disrespectful, but what the heck is the Sovereign waiting for?_ Galeomon growled inwardly to Faris.

"Excellent question, my fishy friend," was all that Faris' voice got back, before their minds were once again blasted with Huanglongmon's none-too-subtle voice.

_Prepare yourselves for battle should this fail, Warriors. I expect it might._  
>Chances were good that the tremendous dragon was not saying the same - if it was saying anything - to Era, as the man stood still, smiling serenely, just waiting.<p>

And then Huanglongmon began uncurling her massive body from around the tree. For a thing of her tremendous size, she moved as though she weighed nothing, even though so much as her _moving_ had the seven feeling like the earth was shaking- despite their being _not actually standing on any form of earth_. She never took her eight red eyes off of those gathered below.  
>She reared up, only her neck - and only at partial height to that- but need her gargantuan size be emphasized further? She began to open her mouth, revealing a purple tongue and endless rows of sharp teeth; when she breathed out, it was like a hurricane-gale wind.<p>

And through all of it, Era stood stoic and resolute, watching.  
>He had waited a hundred years- a bit more was nothing.<p>

"**Taikyoku**!" the Sovereign roared at ear-splitting volume - not a broadcast thought, but a true vocalization. With the cry, radiant golden energy began gathering in her mouth and in the cores that lined her back. The great dragon began to move, her movements liquid and seamless and blazingly fast as they built up more energy. In its way, it was almost hypnotic.

Era said nothing; the man merely lifted his arms just barely above his head, as though conducting an orchestra.

An orchestra was not what followed.

The warriors held their ground - or, in Rocmon and Quetzacoatimon's case, held their place in the air - as they watched what happened next. They braced themselves towards the tree, feinting backwards to stay out of the radius of the golden dragon's blast.

Huanglongmon reared her head back, the energy in her mouth and cores gathering. Just when it seemed the energy could be contained no longer, it was released in a blast of yellow light, aimed laser-precise at the middle-aged man who fancied himself a dictator.  
>The attack never reached its target.<p>

Between Era himself and where the seven Mega digimon stood, the blast of energy merely vanished- absorbed by a spacial distortion.

It was immediately obvious to all seven of the Warriors what they had to blame for this, and they were proved right a second later- when the fetus-like creature appeared mere feet from where the dragon's attack vanished, floating in midair, surrounded by an aura of surging data.  
>Its curled tail twitching as it furled and unfurled, its tiny stub-arms twitching erratically. Its head, already seeming too big for its body, was lolling and snapping up and down, its one visible bulbous eye unfocused as it rolled.<p>

"You were never properly introduced," Era said, then, regarding the Mega-level warriors for the first time. He had still not changed from his stoic expression, but there was vicious look in his eyes as he looked... not at them, but rather through them. "Meet the instrument of your judgment: Genesimon. My creation- perfection."

The fetus - Genesimon - let loose a low hiss, curling in on itself where it floated in midair.

_This is an unforgivable act of heresy,_ Huanglongmon('s voice) said, gravely serious and solemn, _not that I am so foolish as to believe you think otherwise._ The sovereign's body moved listlessly; she was not going to attack Genesimon, if it could merely absorb her attacks. She was attempting to quickly think up another plan.

Era, indeed, took no heed of the dragon's words. "It has been receiving quite a sampling of data- thank you for your... _generosity_." His voice was venomous- as though giving even the most backhanded of compliments pained him.

"_Sampling_?" Rocmon said, digging his talons into the invisible plane that was acting as ground.

"It's been absorbing attacks," WarTriassimon said suddenly, quiet but sure of himself. "It's gathering data."  
>That would explain, then why they had been allowed - and was it ever an awful thought to think that it was something they had been <em>allowed<em> - to try and land attacks on Genesimon right after its creation. It - or rather, Era - was trying to get a sampling of their data.

Era hummed low, a simple _hm_, but he did not reply to the dinosaur. "It's still unfinished, you see. It eats up data, and adds it to itself until it has enough to... metamorphose. But it has a lovely side-effect- of course it does. It's my creation."

He was so casual- as though he weren't speaking to a god.  
>Understandable enough; as far as Era was concerned, he <em>wasn't<em> speaking to a god- he was speaking to a mindless beast, an over-advanced piece of artificial intelligence that had gotten too big for its britches.

"In fact..." he said, after a short pause, and then for the first time, he truly smiled- though it in no way reached his eyes.

Suddenly, a sound split the silence- it was Genesimon.  
>More specifically, it was Genesimon <em>screaming<em>, the sound of unholy machinery and unearthly screams, a sound that pierced the spectators' ears before being absorbed by the darkness around them. The little fetus began convulsing, streaks of light rushing across and around its body, like the data was being forced out of too small a space.

The sound was paralyzing, in a quite literal sense. Quetzacoatimon and Kisekimon both tried to move, but found themselves quite physically unable, shaken to the core as they were by the noise; it was as though the sound actively locked up their bodies. Even Huanglongmon could not act- and in fact, even Era was subject to the same immobilization, not that he was going to show it.

Luckily, the paralyzing screech did not last long.

_Un_luckily, the reason for its dying down was not cause for overmuch celebration.

It stopped when Genesimon was entirely engulfed by light, and once it was, it began to change shape.

'Change shape', for the record, was a phrase that here meant 'get very, very large, in addition to changing shape'.

From a tiny thing, no larger than a loaf of bread, grew something enormous. It grew and grew, reaching nearly a hundred-fifty feet in height before stopping. In truth, it was still quite small compared to Huanglongmon, but for however intimidating the dragon was, this new form blew the Sovereign out of the water on the _holy crap_ meter. The reasoning for this was, well... Huanglongmon, at the least, looked like something that was _supposed to exist_.

It did still look like it could have sprung from the fetus (they had definitely seen stranger digivolutions, but whether this counted as a proper digivolution was... unclear), though that was little comfort.  
>Far above, its face was still covered in bandages, except for its eyes (for now it had two- mark the difference - though they were still the bulging red and yellow eyes of its previous form); the frill-like protrusions, once on the sides of its head, were now aligned in a single-file line running down the back of its head and between its shoulders, and half-formed mandibles, tipped in - claws, teeth, whatever they were- protruded from under the gauze covering most of its face, on either side of what could be assumed to be its mouth.<p>

Its body was no longer translucent and akin to gelatin in composition; but instead, its thin layer of skin was a matte grey-purple, mottled with red. It was thin and emaciated, all skin clinging to ribs and shoulderblades sticking out at harsh angles. Its arms were far too thin and gangly, almost reaching the ground before splaying out into far-too-large hands, its long fingers made knobbly by its knuckles, with each finger tipped in a long claw-like nail.

This, of course, all applied to its torso. In the stead of legs, its body was nestled into a mass of pale blue crystal- a formation that made up a good half of its height. It stuck out in jagged, irregular protrusions; the bottom tapered to a point the closer it got to the ground (or what was serving for it). Fragments of the crystal were hovering, suspended, near the main body, ranging in size from the circumference of a baseball to '_comparable to a car door_'.

There was one last place the crystal formed- in a long spike that Genesimon (if this was, in fact, still _Genesimon_ and not a digivolved form) from behind, straight through the chest below the ribcage. The organic torso lolled backwards slightly, as though it were resting on the formation.

The last point: two black orbs were visible on its body. One was embedded in the crystal and held in place by small protrusions thereof; the other was inlaid in its chest, secured by small fang-like protrusions that curled around it after emerging from the creature's flesh.

In short: not a particularly pretty thing.

Era stood alongside the base of the crystal that hovered some feet above the ground; he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He said only one word as he began to step away: "Showtime."

Showtime indeed.  
>In the blink of an eye, Kisekimon, WarTriassimon and ImperialBaghamon took perches on Rocmon's back, while Galeomon took it upon herself to catch a ride on Quetzacoatimon (after all, the serpent wouldn't be stuck carrying her for long distances); Rocmon and Quetzacoatimon rose into the air, wasting no time. MagnaAriamon hung back a bit before leaping into the air, her wings flaring out.<p>

They did not actually know what they could do, but they couldn't sit by and do nothing.

The serpent and the bird spread their wings, spraying out showers of - respectively - ice and dark energy, both sharp as blades, at the part of Genesimon's body not covered by or composed of the hard crystal.

"**Brilliant Hunter**!"

"**Bitter Hailstorm**!"

"**Blast Burst**!" Kiskeimon cried, firing blasts of white energy from both his hands after sheathing his swords.

This was quickly followed by ImperialBaghamon's cry of, "**God Fist**!" Forcing his four fists forward, he shot a fiery aura at Genesimon, right on the tail of Kisekimon's shots.

Not to be left out, WarTriassimon and MagnaAriamon lobbed their weapons, spear and staff, through the air, with simultaneous cries of:  
>"<strong>Armor Breaker<strong>!"

"**Radiant Lance**!"

All the while, Galeomon was concentrating her energy, holding her claws in front of her. Between her hands was forming a swirling sphere of electric energy, and not a moment after the last two threw their weapons, she added the orb to the fray with a yell of: "**Electro Break**!"

All seven attacks - shadows, light, ice, electricity, earth, fire, and pure energy - hit Genesimon (and the weapons of both MagnaAriamon and WarTriassimon were returned to their owners' hands). They were not absorbed- but they may as well have been, for all the good they did in the end. They had some form of effect- hitting one after another as they did, Genesimon was forced backwards for a mere moment, but quickly righted itself. Its red-and-yellow eyes rolled to look at its attackers, though they could not truthfully said to _focus_ thereupon.  
>It began to groan. Words began to form somewhere in its chest cavity but rumbled and rattled so much on the way out that they were as good as unrecognizable after the fact.<p>

If they were very careful at listening, they would hear two words groaned out in the string of moans:  
>"<strong>Oblivion Plume<strong>..."

Down on the ground, Era stood by, watching in silence.

Also on the ground, reddish spell circles were appearing underneath those suspended in the air- even the ones riding on other digimons' backs had circles inlaid within the other circles.  
>Even Huanglongmon- or at least, the part of the dragon that was unfurled from around the tree.<p>

They would hardly notice these, however. Barely a moment after they formed, cannon beams of black energy was released from the spell circles, blasting into their targets, and was immediately met with a chorus of screams and growls. The energy felt like it was burning away their flesh, but it left no mark.

It knocked those in flight out of the air _immediately_, and their passengers with them. The circles were intent on staying with their targets. That is to say: for instance, Quetzacoatimon fell to one side, instead of straight down; Galeomon fell off of her back. Both of their respective circles moved smoothly on the horizontal plane to remain underneath them until it died down a good ten seconds later.

Even as they dealt with the pain coursing through every inch of their bodies (which, in the case of Galeomon, Rocmon, and especially Quetzacoatimon, was quite a few inches), the warriors began to force themselves up.  
>Huanglongmon herself let loose heavy, growling breaths. She too prepared to move again, preparing another attack, but she was beaten to the punch.<p>

"**Spectral Tail**!" Quetzacoatimon bit out through grit teeth, forcing herself to move and slash her tail through the air even from her crumpled place on the ground. It released a blade of energy that flew at the bottom point of Genesimon's crystal lower half- and dissipated, harmlessly, against it.

_What are you doing?_ inquired Huanglongmon's voice- it was a genuine question, not a reprimand or anything of the like.

"_Fighting back_," ImperialBaghamon spat, forcing himself up out of a kneeling position.

"We're here to save our world," Galeomon grunted, pushing herself up. "And our friends' world, yeom." Despite the _yeom_, it was hard to tell whether this statement came more from the digimon or the human part of the giant shark.

"And we've spend too much time letting other digimon take care of things without us," Kisekimon said, breathing heavy.

Era adjusted his glasses quietly, very close-lipped. He merely looked at the digimon, his face impassive, but his mouth threatened to curl into a sneer of disgust. "Sentiment," he said, speaking too low to be heard, "will get you nowhere."

Kisekimon drew his twin swords. He crouched down before launching into a mighty leap, the arc of it just narrowly clearing the top of the crystal around Genesimon's midsection. "**Double Blad-**!" he cried preparing a strike, but Genesimon moved swiftly for its size.

It rumbled out, "**Dimensional Ripper**...", slashing down with one huge hand and neatly swatting the rabbit-ninja out of the air; it was done attacking far before it finished calling the attack. Rocmon moved fast to prevent his teammate from falling out of the sky. Kisekimon held tight to Rocmon's feathers, as the tremendous white bird had no intent of simply dropping back down to the ground.

"**Roc Claw**!" Rocmon cawed. Both his feet glowed icy blue as he slashed them through the air, firing twin arced blades of icy energy at Genesimon- who groaned, raising a hand and blocking the strikes with one too-thin arm; the bird repeated the movement, time and time again, still with Kisekimon clinging steadfastly to his back (and occasionally joining in with a few rounds of his Blast Burst attack).

From the ground, the others were holding no quarter- a barrage of attacks flew from the ground. WarTriassimon and Galeomon were making their best attempts to chip away at the crystalline lower half of the beast, while MagnaAriamon, ImperialBaghamon, and Quetzacoatimon were doing their best to fire attacks upwards at the organic part of Genesimon.

"They are not priority," Era said, looking up at Genesimon. "Focus." WarTriassimon in particular narrowed his eyes, glancing sidelong at the man, but paid him no further heed.

After all, much more important things began to happen immediately after. Genesimon clearly took Era's words to heart (or, whatever it had). With a groan, it rumbled out another:  
>"<strong>Oblivion Plume<strong>..."  
>And once again, the red spell circles formed underneath the seven fighters and the sole living Sovereign before releasing out their beams of energy, once more taking those in the air right out of it.<p>

But this time, Genesimon didn't hesitate to act. Before its attack had even faded away, it _itself_ faded away- just for an instant. With a surge of static, Genesimon vanished. With a second, identical surge, it reappeared, having closed the distance between itself and Huanglongmon. The dragon, between her massive size and her being still caught in the beam of energy, was unable to react quickly.

"**Virus Hand**..." Genesimon groaned, its eyes rolling to look intently at the Sovereign, and for the first time, its gaze was focused. Genesimon's hands began to glow red as it reared them back, before slamming them into Huanglongmon's face, palms-first, on either side of the eyes on her forehead.

The glow began to seep in and spread. Huanglongmon began to writhe her head, but Genesimon held fast, actually forcing her to stay in place. It began to hiss, low and long. Just as the beam of energy from its Oblivion Plume attack finally ceased, Genesimon had another trick up its sleeves- though perhaps that would be a poor choice of words.  
>Its hands became intangible and sank into Huanglongmon's forehead; in one swift movement, jerky and awkward, it drew its hands in opposite directions, as though it were trying to tear the Sovereign asunder.<p>

In fact, that was _exactly_ what it was trying to do.

Again, its hands left no physical mark- they likely _couldn't_ have. That pointedly did not prevent it from doing damage. When its hands emerged, both were swirling with data and more trailed behind, dragging it out of the Sovereign by force.  
>Huanglongmon began to roar and snarl and hiss and spit, acting downright feral. It was understandable, yes, as it was not the best of situations. As it was dragged out, her data began to pool and swirl around Genesimon's hands.<p>

Unseen, standing some distance behind the digimon - who, themselves, were watching his creation and the Sovereign fight - Era was clenching his fists. He shook just slightly- not from fear (_not from fear_), but from what he felt to be righteous fury. As he saw it, this thing- this _animal_ - was

"Oh, what the-" ImperialBaghamon growled, followed by a low string of obscenities. He crouched down low; his scimitars appeared in his hands with flourishes of fire, as they always did.

"Things are about to get very unpleasant," WarTriassimon predicted, gritting his teeth. MagnaAriamon, standing close by, was already bracing herself to break out her more defensive techniques, if need be. The roaring and groaning from dragon and abomination, respectively, were so loud that when Huanglongmon began to 'speak' to them again, it almost did not register.

_I cannot continue this way,_ the Sovereign said- only speaking to the seven.

"No!" Kisekimon grit out, his twin blades beginning to glow with energy as he prepared to attack.

_Do not interfere!_ Huanglongmon's voice boomed, commanding and fierce. _If I must fall, then so be it. The ends will justify all means. Protect the tree- not me._

There were a million things the Warriors could say, but they knew that nothing they could say could change the mind of a god- if she could even hear them at all. Once more, the golden dragon began to move her body, a brilliant golden glow beginning to gather in her mouth and the cores on her back once more, even as Genesimon continued to sap away data with outstretched hands.

"**Taikyoku**!" the Sovereign roared. She didn't have as much time to build up energy, and she was growing visibly weaker; but with every ounce of power she had left, she released a brilliant-yellow blast at point-blank range into Genesimon. It was blinding to look upon, and Genesimon reared its head back and screamed once more, a banshee-howl that shook all spectators - even Era - to the core.

Once the debris had settled, the golden dragon was fading fast. The entirety of her long body was beginning to deteriorate into data, starting with her limbs and tail-tip.

_You were given the light,_ her voice said, weaker than before. _All is not lost. Fight, wherever it may take you._

And then, with those cryptic words (Deekamon must have taken lessons from her) and one last, earth-rumbling roar, Huanglongmon was gone in a swirl of data. Now in Genesimon's hands: a digicore.

Everything was silent and still, but it felt like everything was crashing down around them.

The final Sovereign had fallen.

Genesimon did not move as it began to absorb the data from Huanglongmon- it moved from its hands before being absorbed by the twin black spheres embedded in its body.

There was no discussion and no delay. The group knew, entirely too well, that they were the only thing standing between Era and Yggdrasil.

Rocmon let loose a keen as he soared high. "**Heaven Strike**!" he cawed as he swooped, blinding-fast and talons-first. His claws grabbed a hold of Genesimon by the shoulders; the bird managed to get a few good strikes with his beak in to the creature's head, before it hissed:

"**Distortion Pulse**..."

A flash of glitched data coursing over and around its body, lasting only a second- and Rocmon was forced off, almost as if Genesimon had just surged with electrical energy.  
>Genesimon groaned, rolling its head to focus its gaze on the tremendous bird, and for a moment, the data of the core in its hands merely swirled, not being absorbed nor dissipated.<p>

It was like a switch was tripped in WarTriassimon's mind, a confirmation of a theory. "Distract it!" the dinosaur yelled.

They honestly didn't need to be told- but it was certainly nice being able to pretend there was a plan at work as they leapt into action for the umpteenth time.  
>The whole time, Era merely stood by, standing a short distance away. He was utterly tight-lipped, his expression unreadable and his arms folded over his chest.<p>

"**Crashing Wave**!" Galeomon roared, a shifting sphere of water forming around her. She leapt at Genesimon- her weight and size meant she could not clear the crystalline part of the beast, but she crashed her body into the rock, shoving Genesimon backwards. Immediately, before she fell, she grabbed handfuls of the crystal, using it as a handhold.  
>It only lasted a second- one more groan of:<p>

"**Distortion Pulse**..."

And, once more, the surface of Genesimon's body - crystal and all - pulsed with data, throwing the shark off. She crashed to the ground with a growl.

MagnaAriamon kicked off of the ground, her wings flaring out once more. "**Cleansing Light**!" the sheep cried, positioned behind Genesimon's back, and immediately, her body was engulfed in bright light. She rushed forward, passing through Genesimon's back and through to the front, the light having seeped into the beast when she passed through. Genesimon roared- its hands were occupied by keeping a hold on the Sovereign's core, so it shifted what remained to one hand, absorbing a tiny amount of it, and then used the other - now glowing red - hand to swipe her out of the sky.

Try though they might, they were only buying time in attempts to fend off what felt like an inevitability. They were growing tired, their bodies weary from the exertion- and from Genesimon's repeated attacks.

Genesimon let loose a rattling groan, its head rolling. Before it even got out the first word of its called attack, the seven warriors were bracing themselves.

"**Oblivion Plume**..."

Once more, the dark spell circles formed underneath the fighters.

This time, shots of white data joined the pillars of black energy, as seven was forcibly split into fourteen. The seven megas were separated- seven digimon and seven humans children, lying in aching, crumpled heaps; the only saving grace to anything was that the digimon were reduced not to Baby II form, but Child form (perhaps due to the proximity of Yggdrasil). The chests of both digimon and human alike heaved as they took deep breaths every inch of their bodies consumed by white-hot pain.

"And the dawn of a new era has come at last," Era said, the pun clearly intentional. He spoke mostly to himself as he began to walk forward, weaving deftly betwixt the kids and digimon strewn across what served as their battlefield. Nothing stood between him and Yggdrasil but empty space, and he was closing that distance.

Above, Genesimon was twitching again, arms crossed over its chest and too-large hands gripping its too-thin shoulders. It seemed as though it were trying to hold something within itself.

All the children and their partners could do was watch, teeth gritted and eyes squinted open despite the pain bidding them closed.

Era smirked.

Yggdrasil itself began to glow, even brighter than before; the data around it began to swirl violently, the sound of rushing and movement and something tremendous.

For not the first time, everything went white.


	48. Chapter 48: Spin the Wheel

_A/N: Sorry for the wait! Life got a bit hectic and I wasn't able to update, so I wanted to wait until Monday so I wouldn't screw up the schedule. Three chapters after this? I'm scared. Once again: reviews are great. Not necessary, but great! aa the people who have been leaving reviews have been so nice. Let me love you._

_Any rate. Onwards!_

* * *

><p>The sky was pockmarked by stars, pinpricks of light that began to fade as the sky around them began to lighten. A nearly-full moon was just about to pass below the horizon, as though it were running from the very first rays of the pre-sunrise twilight. Fading from inky black to a pale, clear blue without a cloud in sight, the sky began to lighten.<br>It was early; a clear summer morning was upon the city. The night owls were retreating, but the early birds had not yet showed their faces; and while it was not truly silent, it was as quiet as it ever got.

This was no comfort to those who could not see it clearly.

In the calm of the night, the children and digimon were anything but calm themselves. Most of the night sky was lost to them, hidden behind an obscuring haze.

"Why," Andrea whispered, before growling and driving her fist into the ground below them, her knuckles bloodying at the contact. She did not care that every inch of her body still burned with pain; her emotion was too much for her to handle. "Why are we _back here_!?"  
>Rajamon got to his feet a bit shakily, padding his way over to his partner; he nudged her with his nose, face sympathetic, but he said nothing.<p>

"This can't be happening," Simon said, laughing breathily, but there was no joy in that laugh; beside him, Egakumon sat up with a groan.

When the brilliant white light had faded, the children had found themselves... in what seemed to be the real world. They were sitting in an unorganized heap in a city street. An acutely familiar street in fact- the very city street that they had found themselves awakening on in a heap once before.  
>Their location, the thick hazy fog that obscured the details of everything around them- everything was exactly the same. No time had passed; they had not passed out. They had merely been there one second, and here the next.<p>

Their bodies, digimon and human alike, felt like they had been blindsided by trucks, and there was a pervasive feeling that could be best likened to white noise as a physical sensation.

"Maybe we're dead," Faris suggested; the tone in his voice gave away that he wasn't serious, but it wasn't as though he was the first to think it.  
>No, they were not dead (quite the opposite, in fact), but that didn't do much to explain what <em>had<em> happened.

"Don't say that," Emily muttered nonetheless, shaking her head; Kamomon looked at her, frowning just slightly. The girl had taken her D-GEAR out of her pocket. The little electronic device was acting exactly as it had the first time they had been here - that is to say, it _wasn't working._

"Era wouldn't have taken mercy," Luke said, shaking his head as he placed a hand on Sampamon's forehead. Really, none of them were so foolish as to imagine that Era _would_ take mercy on them- it was just Luke trying to set his thoughts straight. He was doing a remarkable job of staying calm- or, at least, of seeming like he was staying calm. "Not on _us_, especially. For us to be here..." he trailed off.

"Either this is a trick," Julian concluded, "or something happened that Era wasn't counting on." He quirked an eyebrow at Luke, looking for confirmation; the other boy nodded once.

"I'm guessing the latter," Luke said, sighing loudly.

"How do you figure?" Toby said, frowning and burying his face a bit in his hood (it was actually a bit cold, though it would warm up with the sun). Lammon nudged her nose against his hand, gently.

Luke paused, looking down at Sampamon. The snake looked up at him expectantly with her big yellow eyes, even though she felt the same way- she was just silently encouraging him to speak. "Era is... he's very smart. But he's impatient. He's on the doorstep of something he's waited a hundred years for; he might have overlooked something, being as sure as he was that he had covered every possible eventuality." He spoke in a way that seemed to convey that, once he started, he was set on finishing the thought as soon as possible- not rushed, per say, but at a pretty quick clip.

"Fancy words, there," Faris said, rubbing the back of his head. "But I think I follow."

"So for us to be here... Yggdrasil must have acted of its own accord," Egakumon said slowly, scratching his snout.

"That's impossible," Iguamon replied, closing his eyes.

"Well, if you don't have any more theories," Delfinimon said, cocking her head, "it does seem like it's what happened, yeom."

"That's great and all," Rajamon cut in, "but we have something more important than _why we're back here_ to worry about."

"And with several parts to that question, actually," Kamomon remarked, looking around. His brow furrowed slightly; his feathers were on the ruffled side, both literally and figuratively.

The question, of course: what did this mean for the fates of Era and the freak of the week? Had they been left behind in the digital world (to have free reign to destroy it)? Had they been pulled through to this limbo, too (and who knew what kind of consequences _that_ could have)?

They felt helpless and lost- one of the only times in this entire escapade that the kids had any idea where they were in relation to anything they knew, they felt more stranded than ever.

"We have to find out what happened to Era," Simon said after a moment. This was obvious, but it was nice to have it said aloud regardless.

"If you suggest we split up, I am actually going to _punch you in the mouth_," Andrea said, putting her hands on her hips; Simon huffed a dry laugh and nodded.

"No splitting up," he conceded, nodding.

"That way, if something goes horribly wrong," Faris said, "we'll all have it go horribly wrong together."

"Something like that, yes," Luke said, standing up. Once he was to his feet, he knelt to pick Sampamon up and place her around his shoulders. (She hissed appreciatively.)

"We've been together through a _lot_ of things going horribly wrong," Emily said, getting to her feet as well. "Now's no time to break the streak, yeah?" She smiled faintly, shrugging one shoulder.

Darn straight.

"Before we... start running around, and everything," Toby said, speaking up. "Something's been bugging me." Before he even said what it was, all six of the other kids - and, in fact, all seven digimon - knew what he was going to bring up- it had been on their minds as well.  
>"What... exactly... are we supposed to do, if we beat Era?" the short boy said, tugging at his sleeves. "I mean... with bad digimon, it's not really an issue. We fight them, and then they turn back into eggs. But..."<p>

But Era was unique to them, in that he was human. It was a different ballpark.

What exactly _were_ they supposed to do? The kids were still, after all, _kids_- kids chosen for their virtuous hearts, at that. Kids who had adventured across a land that, more often than not, wanted them dead, yes, fought fantastic monsters alongside and then a part of their monster friends, yes. Yet... it was a very hard concept for them to conceive; to so much as think that they may have to take a human life, evil though it may be, was difficult.  
>The digimon, too- though it was a foggier concept to them, both outside of the realm of their experience and a result of their own very young age (in comparison to other digimon), it wasn't entirely foreign. Inducing a final death was the worst thing a digimon could do to another, and they understood perfectly well that humans didn't work the same way as they did. Humans did not kill their own.<p>

But... Era was pretty far past redemption. The lives he had taken in his hundred years in the Digital World would already put him far past the line, even without the whole _attempted omnicide_ thing he was working on at present.

Heavy stuff.

"One of the hundred thousand things we don't have an answer for," Luke surmised, frowning as he looked to the ground.

"We'll... have to cross that bridge when we get to it, yeah?" Emily said, sighing out heavily.

The entire end of this journey was shaping up to be a big _we'll cross that bridge when we get to it_.

It was quiet for a moment; in the distance, a car honked.

Julian sighed through his nose, looking to the rapidly-brightening sky through the thick haze of fog. "We should get to doing something. We don't know how long we have."

Lammon frowned, looking around. "But... what are we looking for?"

That... was a good question. Those who had not yet stood got to their feet; necks were craned in all directions as everyone looked for some sort of clue.

And to their great surprise? They actually found one. Or rather, Kamomon, tilting his head back to look to the sky, did; perhaps a bit of his sharper eyesight from his higher forms had held over. (More likely, he had just been looking in the right place at the right time.)  
>"Look!" the bird cawed, flapping his wings once in excitement.<p>

It was only in the sky for a second- it was over the buildings to the east, and silhouetted by the impending sunrise's lightening of the sky. It didn't quite look like it was truly there, but that was likely the fault of the cloud that surrounded them; it was hazy and blurry. _Indistinct_ would be the word.  
>Indistinct though it was, the shape was that of a bird- not just any bird, but a bird roughly the size of a minivan, with two large horns curling forward on its head.<p>

"Either something's gotten into the water supply around here," Faris deadpanned, "or that was a digimon."

"Your jokes are getting worse," Julian said, casting a sidelong glance to his brother, "but you're right."

"Do you suppose it's breaking through?" Toby said, frowning as he looked at where the bird had been not long ago.

To his side, Julian shook his head. "I don't think so," he said. "Breaking through would be a conscious act. If Genesimon is attacking the tree, then things are going to start being thrown out of order."

"Then it's the worlds that are crossing over into eachother," Simon said, snapping his fingers as the realization hit him; Julian nodded once.

"He's bringing our world through to yours," Sampamon reasoned. "I believe he's trying to... everse our world, so to speak, by pulling it through the tree. If that makes sense."

"Not even in the slightest," Emily said, but she was smiling faintly. "No, I think I get what you mean. More or less."

Rajamon heaved a sigh, shaking his head. "Fantastic," the tiger grumbled.

"But the point," Simon cut in, "is that they're coming through, whether he's bidding them do it or not."

"And if there's _one_," Egakumon said, gripping his paintbrush, "there's going to be another. Right? It might come through stronger?"

"I don't think it's a one-time deal, yeom," Delfinimon said with a nod.

"We are dealing with a raging psychopath, and a hundred-foot monster that's ripping apart the dimensions for him," Faris deadpanned, picking Delfinimon up into his arms. "Of course it's not a one-time deal."

"We have to reach the fountain," Simon said, then, clenching one hand into a fist.  
>That fountain was what everything kept coming back to; it was their best bet.<p>

The sun was beginning to peek up over the horizon beyond the haze.

* * *

><p>The kids knew the way back to the fountain just by memory- even then ones that didn't live in the city, after their madcap run for it the last time they had walked these streets. Navigation wasn't an issue; they ducked through every side-street and shortcut they could, trying to cut travel time as much as they could.<p>

Every so often, they would see another apparition- in the sky, or in the street.  
>About thirty minutes into their travels, he group was approaching the mouth of an alleyway, just spilling out onto the sidewalk, when a phantom-like digimon phased into their sight, cutting through the fog. It was a tremendous praying mantis, with no visible eyes and black sickle-blades where its forearms should have been.<p>

Despite lacking eyes, it was most definitely looking straight at them.

"Crap," Andrea muttered. She pulled out her D-GEAR, more out of reflex than anything; it was still acting bizarre. She didn't have time to dwell on it, though.

"**Twin Sickles**!" the giant green insect digimon said, but for some reason, its voice was slightly garbled, like a corrupted sound file. What came through loud and clear, though, was the fact that it slashed both of its arms downward through the air, releasing twin crescent-shape blades of pink energy in their wake. The moment it had begun to call an attack, the kids and digimon had promptly _gotten out of the way_.

"**Magic Brush**!" Egakumon yelled as he leapt to the side down the sidewalk, drawing his paintbrush and tracing a glyph into the air; a second later, a burst of concussive energy shot at the bug from the strokes his paintbrush left behind.

"**Prince Fire**!" Rajamon called at the exact same moment, feinting the other direction and gathering a fireball in his mouth before firing it at the insect.

The big bug's attack hit first- but with its targets out of the way, it missed. One of the pink blades of energy only sliced through empty air before fizzling out further down the alley, but the other hit a trash-can behind where several of the kids had been standing before. The trash can was... well, for lack of a better word, _obliterated_, as a result; it had been all but blown apart by the force.  
>The blast of white light and the fireball hit their target on the mark; the bug merely growled, taking a step closer.<p>

But before the hostile digimon could take another step, he seemed to flicker out, fading back through the dimensional fabric.

For a moment, it was quiet as the adrenaline rush died down.

"_That_ was a Snimon, if you were curious," Kamomon said helpfully, though there was no small amount of irony in his voice- there were bigger things to worry about than what the big bug had been named, and he knew it.

"Fantastic," Julian mumbled, sarcastic and dry, as he looked at what had once been a trash can. They could affect the real world, even in this limbo as they were; the group had less time than they thought. Was this happening elsewhere?

Filed under _questions that they didn't have time to ponder._ They had to keep moving, and keep moving they did.

A short time after the Snimon incident, the group turned around a corner, and- in the next alley, they found themselves face to face (and entirely too close) with a rather... hostile-looking digimon. It was a tremendous fox, barely fitting in the alleyway, with nine tails tipped with blue fire.  
>"Get ready," Julian muttered, bracing himself - as the other kids were - as the fox's tails fanned out, their tips growing brighter. In their pockets, their D-GEARs began to warble out broken static- the little devices were making a valiant effort to give them a reading, but couldn't.<p>

Hey, it was progress.

Distorted and staticky, the fox began to call an attack- but did not get to finish it.

"**Fox Tail Inf-**!"

"**Cable Crusher**!" another voice came through, garbled but spoken loudly and clearly enough that the words came across understandably regardless. One heavy arm was reared up behind the obscuring fan of the tails, and it smashed downwards like a heavy club. The fox roared, rearing its head back, before it went up in light, and it vanished entirely; instead of shooting into the sky, its data simply dispersed into the fog as an egg dropped to the ground. The club-like arm actually cracked the concrete, but that wasn't what they were looking at.  
>Behind it, for a brief moment, they could see another digimon- a tremendous rabbit with the strangest proportions, its body colours brown and red, with a skull-like helmet and huge curved spikes on its shoulders. They could not place it, but he seemed familiar- and a definitely-familiar pink-furred face was perched on his shoulder.<p>

Piximon saluted with his spear as the rabbit bowed his head and the rabbit scooped the digitama into one big red hand, before they too vanished with the fog that surrounded them.

"What the _heck_ was that," Faris deadpanned, blinking a couple times.

"A Kyuubimon getting its hide tanned by a Wendigomon, yeom?" Delfinimon replied, looking up at her partner. "But I don't think that's what you're asking."

"They couldn't have known this would happen," Julian said then, quiet and thoughtful. When the others turned to look at him, he continued walking (as did they all), but he began to explain: "It's not just digimon loyal to Era that are getting through. When Deekamon rallied the troops, I don't think even he knew this was going to happen."

"But they're coming through, too," Emily said, repeating Julian a bit as she puzzled it over in her head. "Why are they-"

"They're our friends," Simon said immediately, looking at the ground. "Their world's survival depends on ours, too, yeah, but... they're our friends."

They would be able to articulate exactly why, had they been asked, but they picked up the pace after that.

The further the group went, the more they noticed two distinct things:

One: the strange fog was thickening, making it harder and harder to make things out clearly, even with the growing levels of natural light.  
>Two: the digimon appearances were getting more and more frequent, and they were staying around longer before fading out. If they looked hard enough, sometimes they could see digimon fighting- though they didn't know which they should be rooting for, and so were forced to keep their distance and not get involved.<p>

They just had to wonder- if the digimon fighting for Era, and, in fact, the digimon fighting on _their_ side, could damage things in the real world even through the fog of limbo- what kind of damage were they causing elsewhere in the city?  
>And what was going to happen if they couldn't contain them?<p>

* * *

><p>It felt like they were walking in a figurative haze, in addition to the literal one, when they reached the edge of the fountain plaza. It had only been just over an hour since their getting to their feet when they awoke; it felt like much, much longer.<p>

The world around them was obscured and unclear, to the point where it felt they weren't _quite_ in the real world, not even the odd limbo version. They were just a hop, skip, and a jump away, somehow- closer to the real world than the digital one, but not quite there.  
>Funnily enough, that was <em>exactly<em> what the case was- not that they knew it.

They could sense - human and digimon alike - a surging power, something staticky and entirely too familiar for comfort. But they could see nothing- only the fountain.

Except... not quite. If they looked carefully - and they did - they would see, occasionally, flickers of something. Light and data and energy, surging across the surface of the water sprayed out by the fountain- like reflections or shadows.  
>And they could see a distorted shadowy thing, misting over the, well, mist, distorting and corrupting even itself.<p>

"This... is where Yggdrasil connects to this world," Sampamon said, quietly- a dawning realization.

"One of the points, at least," Iguamon added quietly.

"This is what we have in common," Luke said slowly, looking up and glancing at the other six children. "Isn't it?"

It was; as Julian and Emily had supposed the last time they had come here, and as their idle conversation afterwards, had confirmed.  
>It had just gone from a wild, coincidental theory to a very, very viable one.<p>

Simon pulled his D-GEAR out of his pocket; it was flickering, trying valiantly to function, with mixed-at-best success. "How do we get back?" he said, looking from the device to the fountain. "Last time, we went back, but... last time, Yggdrasil wasn't being controlled by our enemy."

Egakumon looked up at his partner. "We'll find a way," the rabbit said. All around, the other digimon nodded and voiced their concurrence. The seven children nodded; in moments, seven hands held their D-GEAR units tight.

They all felt it a second before it happened. They felt it in their bones, a surge of something beyond the physical. Like a dam bursting, there was light and power and energy all at once. In their hands, their D-GEARs sprung to life, lit up in an instant. Before them, the fountain before them was lit up with energy- with data. It was surging and distorting, and they could almost swear they could see a shape within the light- a shadow, faint and pale.

"One last granted wish from the fountain, huh," Andrea said - almost a bit wistfully - as they looked at the fountain erupting in light. Her words stuck in more than a couple of the kids' minds, but they said nothing.

Iguamon sighed deeply, looking straight ahead for a moment. He craned his neck to look up at Julian, and spoke only four words: "End of the line." Julian, in his turn, lowered his eyes.

"... it is, isn't it?" Toby said quietly after a moment; Lammon nodded, brow furrowed.

"Guess there's no turning back now," Emily said, but beside her, Kamomon shook his head.

"We passed the point of no return quite a while ago," the bird said, but he smiled a melancholy smile.

"Yeah, like, right around the time we met you, yeom," Delfinimon added, beaming up at Faris.

It was true. It had long ago been too late to turn back- it had long since become personal.  
>They were fighting for their worlds; that much was clear and inarguable. But along the way, it had been clear- they were truly fighting for <em>their worlds<em>.

To the humans... their past months in the Digital World had made the place, as strange and foreign and dangerous as it was, as much a home as the one they came from. And the digimon? Well, they didn't need to have spent much time at all in the real world to have taken it on as their own. It was their partners'; simply by being around them, by learning of their friends' families and homes and lives before and after, they felt a kinship to it.

But really, all of that was just dressing. Whether they were fighting alongside one another as a team, side by side as human and digimon, or together as a true Warrior- they were parts of each other. All fourteen belonged to both worlds; surely, they didn't have the best of both, but what they had - the good and the bad - was indelible.

For every friend, every family member; for every mentor, and even every digimon that had tried to kill them; it was time to fight for them.

And they were ready to do it.

"... you know, we're going to have to keep in touch, once this is done," Faris said, smiling faintly. "You guys are... pretty cool."

"You know it," Emily said, putting her hands in her pockets and beaming, a bit pink in the face.

"Hey, a kid with green hair thinks I'm pretty cool. Neat," Luke deadpanned sidelong to Sampamon, but he returned the faint smile.

Once more, the gnawing dread hit the back of their heads- of the fate the digimon would face, win or lose. It was not only the humans feeling such apprehension; the digimon themselves were all too aware.  
>They wouldn't fail. They would fight to the last.<p>

There was no part of this adventure that any of them, digimon and human alike, could regret. Rough times and good times alike; through wandering lost on the search for Wisemon, facing down with Forbidramon, fighting the Reapers, trying to track down Era- it all came to this.

One at a time, the kids lifted their D-GEAR units into the air. Their digimon stood beside them, preparing themselves. The glow from the digivices began to bleed out, spreading down the kids' arms. It wasn't long before the light began to overtake the digimon, too.  
>For the final time, a warm bright light overtook the bodies of the seven chosen children and their partner digimon as, through the power of Yggdrasil, they were once more beckoned back into the digital world to fight Era's forces.<p>

* * *

><p>The light was quick to fade.<p>

Once more, they found themselves in the hollow of Yggdrasil- that vast dark void. Before them, the tree was corrupting, hurtling towards the point of being beyond recognition. The brilliant-white light was being tainted with a bloody red as the surface of the tree glitched and corrupted with alarming frequency. Around them, they could see tears in the fabric of the hollow; glimpses of the digital world and real world alike, fuzzy and distorted.

"It's not working," hissed a too-familiar voice from behind the group, so quiet and yet it caused them to turn immediately. Era stood there, his face still as ever but his eyes _burning_, every inch of his body straining to hold back the livid rage that coursed through it. His voice was even-toned but was spat out through gritted teeth; every molecule of the man betrayed his anger.

Simply for the way Era was acting - and the knowledge that Genesimon was just around the corner, it had to be - the group couldn't feel any relief at all.

"There remains something," the man continued, speaking very slowly, as though he were speaking a none-too-bright dog, "that eludes me."

At that moment, the air was split by a screeching noise. Their attention was drawn to Yggdrasil once more; something was emerging from it.  
>No prizes for guessing what it was.<p>

Emerging from the tremendous tree of data was... well, it was Genesimon. Its appearance had changed, but it could change a thousand times and the digimon and humans alike would never be able to mistake it.

It was significantly larger now, clocking in at well over three-hundred feet- more than doubling its previous form's stature.  
>Some things remained similar. Its torso was still human-like in a broad sense, and just as emaciated as the last time; it still had a ridge of protrusions running down the back of its head, and its lower half was decidedly more monstrous than the top. There was still a core-like orb embedded in its chest and held in by teeth-like spikes, though now the orb was pinkish-red instead of pitch-black.<p>

That was where the overt similarities stopped, though. The pink of its flesh was replaced with a sickly purplish hue, now. Instead of its entire head being robed in bandages, only the bottom half, up to where its eyes should have been, were bandaged up. Note: where its eyes _should_ have been. Instead of two large and bulbous eyes, there was only one, long and thin, in the middle of its forehead. Two tube-like attachments ran from the back of its head to the nape of its neck, one each on the left and right.  
>Instead of arms attached to its shoulders, however, it had four long tendril-like extensions on its back. Two - one curving up over its shoulder, and one swooping downwards - emerged from each shoulderblade on its back.<p>

From the waist down... well. Its lower half was no longer crystal; rather, it was something between a snake and a legless centipede. Its lower body was long and tapered, covered in a hard exoskeleton-like structure instead of skin. About fifty feet before the tip, the tail split into three bloody-red tendrils that curled around each other in a triple helix that came to a point.

In addition to the orb in its chest, there were three more identical spheres- one where its navel should have been, and one each at each of its shoulders, the latter pair being rimmed by the same fang-like protrusions as the one on its sternum. Out of all of the traits of Genesimon's newest appearance, these were the most disturbing. Every so often, they surged with data- but consistently, once every ten seconds or so, they throbbed and pulsated, seeming close to breaking just before they settled down again.

They were so busy looking at the newest edition of the freak of the week that they almost missed Era's next statement.

Though nobody was looking to see it, the man's face curled into the nastiest of smiles. "But thank you for bringing them back. I'll be taking them now."

* * *

><p>Yggdrasil was, for lack of a better word, dying.<p>

When the Sovereigns had realized, some time ago, that this was rapidly becoming a viable scenario, instead of simply a possibility, they had put forth a fail-safe- a way to keep their chosen warriors fighting, and keep their chance alive.

The light that Azulongmon had given the children, what seemed like so long ago- he had claimed to be a way to reach their digimon's higher levels, should their ordinary way become unusable. That was their fail-safe, and that time was now; Yggdrasil was more than being taken over. It was being actively broken.

But the catch was this:

Era could not take the tree without taking it _completely_.  
>Era might be able to do quite a bit of damage- he might even ravage the digital world beyond repair, as he was well on his way to doing. He was able to weaken the barriers between the worlds; he had already proven he could do that. All that, yes, he could do- he could cause unthinkable damage.<p>

But as long as some part of Yggdrasil stayed out of his control, he could not destroy it.

And some parts did stay out of his control.

And that was enough to keep Yggdrasil out of Era's full control.

So long, of course, as they did not fall to him; for seven small parts of Yggdrasil rested not with the core tree, but in the form of the Virtues. The Sovereign's plan cut them off from the tree, as they could not use the corrupted data they would otherwise be blessed with.  
>They would have to use only the power innate to the Virtue talismans themselves, those mere fragments of Yggdrasil; the children, those with the power to activate them; and the digimon, those borne straight from Yggdrasil and made especially to receive power from the Virtues.<p>

Why, for any other digimon to use the power of the Virtue talismans for very long at all might drive it to madness.


	49. Chapter 49: Dust to Dust

_A/N: Soo... this took way too long. Sorry. REALLY sorry. I really hope to finish re:GEN before its second anniversary (October 8th, 2013). So. Fingers crossed! You should totally leave reviews and, you know, encourage me. ... and give feedback. You know, review just to give feedback. That'd be better._  
><em>but uh.<em>  
><em>...<em>  
><em>it's Friday the 13th in some parts of the world (not where I am, but shh) so I guess it's appropriate. I think this is the first chapter that broke the 10k mark. Woosh!<em>

* * *

><p>Genesimon, before them, was absolutely still. It rose to its full height, the four tendrils on its back moving slow and smooth as though they were wings in slow motion; but it did not move.<br>That was the most disconcerting thing of all.

"You're not going to win, you know," Era said quietly. Slowly, cautiously, the group turned to look upon him; he was calmly adjusting his glasses, a nasty but understated smile on his face. "It's finally perfect. Everything is perfect, except for... you. There was a... blip in the plans. You're certainly good at that, though, aren't you?"  
>Fourteen pairs of eyes were glaring daggers at him. In return, he was looking not at them, but in their general direction; his eyes were focused beyond them.<p>

He knew they would not attack him, because whether they knew why or not, the group just knew that if they tried anything, they would have a several-hundred-foot-tall abomination to answer to. If he wanted to talk, let him talk- it gave them a chance to think.

"You've been thorns in my side ever since the idiot gods decided it would be a good idea to call you in. But I've been able to work around it. _With_ it, in some cases," the man said, with a particular smug glance towards Luke; if looks could kill, Era would have dropped dead a hundred times over from the look he got in return  
>"But you've outlived your usefulness to me. It's a pity that I had to do this. Really and truly."<br>His voice dripped with insincerity; perhaps he felt bad about it at some point, but any part of him that cared was long dead.

"But you allied yourselves with filth. You forfeited your lives, for the sake of creatures that wanted only to use you as weapons and power sources- and thus became tainted by them."

Pause.

"But most importantly, you've gotten in my way. I overlooked something; it won't happen again. There's only one way to make sure of that."  
>Once again, Era spread his arms out, smiling. He said only two word, then, and took a single step backwards.<p>

"Kill them."

Genesimon began to hiss; the world around them began to shake.

One last time, the kids' D-GEARs erupted into life, the warm light spreading over them and their partners.  
>As the pairs took on their most powerful forms, it felt just so slightly different than it had before. They felt a connection, not just between the partners themselves, but throughout all fourteen children and digimon. Though they didn't know this, exactly, the seven virtues - granting power to the warriors and bonding them together - were cut off from the tree, but were more in tune with each other than ever before.<br>It was wrong to say they felt entirely in tune, and they were far from synchronized, but if they cared to concentrate, they just barely could feel one another's consciousnesses- just barely.

But even stronger than that, they could feel what was in front of them- Genesimon's very existence felt wrong on a very primal level, and were they of weaker constitutions, it may have rooted them to the spot.

"You won't win," Era said, smiling just so faintly. To be truthful, it was hard for the warriors not to believe him- the odds were not exactly slanted in their favor, here.  
>But had it been made abundantly clear yet that giving up was not an option?<p>

"It doesn't have a mind of its own," WarTriassimon was quick to say, sidelong to his teammates. "Or if it does, it's not much of one."

He had seen the way Genesimon had acted when it had taken on the sovereign; it was acting on instinct, pure reaction. When it had turned its attention away from absorbing the final Sovereign's core, it had been a big flashing light in the minds of the two that comprised WarTriassimon.

This meant they could _distract it_. This meant, despite the massive disparity in size - Genesimon's tremendous size dwarfed even the likes of Rocmon and Quetzacoatimon, let alone the smaller warriors - that they could still... well, they could still _stall_.  
>Maybe that <em>was<em> all they could do right now, but it was better than nothing.

What happened next happened very quickly, in three primary parts, and so it would do best to start at the start:

"**Double Blader**!" Kisekimon yelled immediately, leaping forward at blinding speed. In the blink of an eye, he had drawn both of his swords from their paintbrush scabbards, and their blades glowed bright as he crossed them. He began to slice them down and out, but before his swords could connect with Genesimon's tail, he found himself thrown off-course.

Before the samurai had even finished calling his attack, Genesimon had rolled its head to focus its one eye on the ground- and called an attack of its own. "**Annihilator Beam**!" the beast hissed - for indeed, no longer was its voice a rumbled groan, but rather a smooth hiss (even though it sounded as though it were coming from behind a wall of static). Immediately, a powerful beam of red energy was shot from its eye, almost as though it were ripped from it. The beam knocked Kisekimon away, sending the mega-level tumbling to the side with a cry. For a second afterward, the beam continued to bore into the invisible plane of the ground, almost seeming to burn into it, before it quite suddenly dissipated.

Not seconds after the beam dissipated, the other six warriors were immediately on the case. Rocmon and Quetzacoatimon, with hard beats of their giant wings, rose into the air, Rocmon quite a bit higher than the serpent.

"**Spectral Tail**!" Quetzacoatimon yelled, the tip of her tail absorbing the little light around her; she writhed and spun her body, dragging her tailtip in a long arc. From the tip was released a similarly-arced blade of energy, shining brilliantly in all the hues of the rainbow.

"**Rolling Fog**!" Rocmon keened, and spread his wings wide. Instead of a shower of blade-like ice, or even striking with his huge talons, he summoned around him a massive cloud of freezing mist. One more beat of his wings spread the fog over Genesimon, beginning to coat the creature's extremities with a thin layer of ice.

Well, those on the ground weren't about to be left out. "**Fossil Storm**!" WarTriassimon yelled, driving his spear point-first into the ground. From the point of impact, bright white cracks spread like spider-webs, and the light quickly shot up to take the form of skeletal beasts, which took no time in rushing at Genesimon's curled tendrils of a tail-end.

"**Shark Attack**!" Galeomon roared, rearing down. With a crackle of electricity, white energy took the shape of innumerable sharks in the air around her. The ephemeral fish joined the spectral skeletons, surging at Genesimon and snapping their jaws in attempts to sink their teeth in.

ImperialBaghamon growled, embers gathering in his mouth; with a roar of his own - in which was contained the words "**Fire Wave**!" - he opened his mouth and let loose a veritable river of flames, aimed for Genesimon.

MagnaAriamon, for her part, once more traced a circle in the air around her with the tip of her staff. "**Shining Break**!" she called, but instead of the light expanding into a spherical shield - as the attack's usual use was - it instead was directed into a powerful shot of light, firing at Genesimon.

All six of these attacks were loosed at the tremendous abomination, but to simply say _they had no effect_ was not enough.  
>Even though Genesimon's skin looked paper-thin, the attacks did no damage when they contacted it. The ice from Rocmon's fog cracked away and melted; Galeomon and WarTriassimon's summoned creatures all but dissolved; the attacks of Quetzacoatimon, ImperialBaghamon, and MagnaAriamon alike merely dispersed harmlessly.<p>

Though their attacks had no effect, clearly, they had _registered_; not a moment after the warriors realized how ineffectual their attacks had been, Genesimon once more rolled its head. Its one eye squeezed shut as though it were thinking very hard, before it snapped open, pupil constricted, as its entire body began to shake just slightly.

Once more, its voice sounded like it was coming from behind a wall of static as it called its next attack. "**Static Reaper**!" it hissed.

In a heartbeat, the four tentacles on its back split into eight, and began to crackle and shift like, yes, television static. The warriors could hardly notice this, as less than a second later, seven of the tentacles shot out, straight through the chests of all seven warriors. Though they impaled the digimon straight through, they did no apparent physical damage of the sort.

But that is not to say it did no harm.

The attack - _assault_ - lasted only seconds, but it took with it any sense of time. It was as though it were corrupting them to the very cores, distorting the essence of their beings and threatening to rip them apart at the seams.

Just as suddenly as they had come, Genesimon's tendrils retracted and rejoined, until once more it had only four spreading from between its shoulder-blades once more.

The warriors hit the ground _hard_. Those in the air fell like stones; those on the ground collapsed as though they had no bones in their bodies to support them. The screams gave way to heavy breathing of the warriors-  
>And the heavy, grinding hiss of Genesimon's own breath. The beast loomed over, preparing to loose another attack on its enemies.<br>Era adjusted his glasses, but his serene, restrained smile remained on his face.

But none of them had fallen too far- they began to scramble to their feet, trying to act fast, but their bodies groaned with protest, shaking with the aftershocks of the attack.

Shakily, and with many a pained hiss through gritted teeth, Kisekimon was the first to his feet. While his allies were not _surprised_, they could not say they expected what he did.

Once he was up, Kisekimon wasted no time, despite the protests of his body, he wasted no time; he drew one sword, and _leapt_.  
>Despite every fiber of his being groaning with pain, he moved blindingly fast up through the air, almost as though flying. His long red scarf trailing behind him like a comet's tail, to the point where the red streak was almost all they could see of him- until his drawn sword began to glow, adding a stripe of white to the shape moving upwards. "<strong>Nova Blade<strong>!" he all but screamed, throwing his sword like a javelin at the peak of his jump.

The sword hit its target true before its owner hit the ground. It struck the red crystalline sphere that rested in Genesimon's abdomen, and the blade began to sink in, sending brilliant white cracks, like spiderwebs, out from the point of impact. Genesimon began to _scream_, a grinding noise that shook the air, and even sent physical tremors through the remains of Yggdrasil itself. The sword's hilt came flush with the sphere, and stopped. The white tassel attached to the pommel swayed just slightly.

Era's smile faltered.

"This isn't over yet," Kisekimon said as he landed on the ground, as graceful as possible. The odd thing was: it sounded like it was onEgakumon and Simon's voices speaking in tandem, instead of in Kisekimon's own deeper, more knightly voice.

"You can delay it as long as you want, you know," Era said quietly, hands clenched into fists. His voice was almost inaudible under the horrible sound Genesimon made. "But I have the power of a god in my hands. This world is mine."

"No, it isn't," ImperialBaghamon said immediately, and just like Kisekimon before him, his voice was not his own- but of Rajamon and Andrea, speaking together. "**God Fist**!" Whether spoken in the voice of the four-armed lion or the young girl and tiger that comprised it, the attack worked just the same either way. ImperialBaghamon thrust out all four fists, and a powerful aura of flame was let loose, surging upwards at the orb that Kisekimon's sword rested in.  
>The flames impacted the sphere, and instead of rolling off harmlessly like they had against the beast's skin, the fire seemed to seep into the cracks that the sword had started; Genesimon roared, its entire body distorting for just a moment.<p>

"It's a core, yeom," Galeomon said suddenly, her eyes narrowing. She snorted out through her nose, raising her arms. "**Electro Break**!" she roared in turn, summoning a crackling sphere of electricity between her hands. The shark lobbed it at the orb in Genesimon's abdomen; it arced smoothly through the air before impact. Just like the flames before it, it seeped in instead of dissipating, causing Genesimon's body to surge once more.

The instant the electricity hit, three of the warriors began to move; MagnaAriamon leapt into the air as her staff began to glow, and Quetzacoatimon and Rocmon pulled their bodies into the air with heavy beats of their wings.

"**Radiant Lance**!" MagnaAngemon cried, lobbing her staff like a javelin just as Kisekimon had thrown his sword.

"**Brilliant Hunter**!" Quetzacoatimon roared, spreading her wings wide and releasing a shower of blade-like energy.

"**Heaven Strike**!" Rocmon keened, rising up higher into the air before swooping down with talons glowing white. He struck hard before flapping backwards, clearing away as fast as he could.

All three attacks were focused on the sphere- and hit true. The orb began to crack- it just needed one more solid hit before it had a chance to respond.

"**Fault Shift**!" WarTriassimon cried without a second of hesitation, holding his spear above his head with both hands, and leaping. His powerful jump was just enough to get him on-level with what they assumed was Genesimon's core, and he slammed it point-first into the sphere.  
>Just like that, the core <em>shattered<em>- Kisekimon's sword fell, and the rabbit was quick to leap forward to catch it before it clattered to the ground. WarTriassimon likewise was thrown backwards by the force; MagnaAriamon was on the scene in a heartbeat, swooping forward and grabbing him under the arms to prevent the dinosaur from tumbling down.

It flashed blinding-white for a split second, and Genesimon began to roar once more- an unearthly noise, interspersed with heavy breathing and gurgling static. Where the orb had rested in its abdomen was now a pitch-black hole- if they were to look, they would see data rushing to and fro under the surface of its skin.

Genesimon did not call an attack; instead, it merely groaned, and behind it, Yggdrasil began to visibly corrupt, streams of data shooting in every direction for just a moment.  
>As it moved, the warriors could feel something awful- the same feeling they felt when they first laid eyes on Genesimon in its fetal form, multiplied a hundredfold. They reared down and hissed, pupils constricting and teeth bared, as once more their bodies contended with the feeling of hate and corruption and absolute <em>wrongness<em> rushing through them- even if just for a couple seconds.

But that was all the delay Genesimon needed. The attacks dispelled and its prey temporarily disabled, it took its chance. It began to glow just faintly, staticky and glitched.

"**Void of Abandon**!"

Underneath all seven of the warriors - even those in the air - swirling black whirlpools opened up in the invisible plane of the ground; they would be invisible, if not for the fact that they seemed to eat up the light around them.  
>And, of course, the fact that those with their feet on the ground were being sucked into them. Those in the air were, too- it was like a black hole was dragging them down with intense gravity. Any attempts they made to move away were futile at best, and actively counterproductive at worst.<p>

Before long at all, all of them - from the comparatively small Kisekimon and MagnaAriamon, to the monstrous forms of Rocmon and Quetzacoatimon, were dragged downwards into the darkness, engulfed and invisible to the naked observant eye from outside.  
>Data rushed around them, the distant dull roar that they had grown to know- the same sound they had heard when they had been in the presence of the Sovereigns, when they digivolved to Mega.<p>

But it was no comforting noise this time- it sounded like a vicious storm was raging, crashing and ripping around them with no rhythm or rhyme.

Perhaps one or two opened their mouths to exclaim, but no sound came out; even within the cores, the non-physical humans found that their voices were robbed from them. They could say nothing; and moreover, they realized, they couldn't do much else, either. Despite their usual alertness, their being in-tune with their surroundings, they could feel nothing; it was as like their nerves were being smothered and suppressed by some unseen force. They could not see; they could not hear; they felt nothing at all.

Whether this silence lasted a second or a minute (it was hard to tell), it did not last forever.

With no warning, everything was- well, to say it was on _fire_ would be far too gentle a term.

Every inch of their bodies felt as though it were being torn apart and reassembled a thousand times a second; the pain was unfathomable. It was as though they were, digimon and human alike, mind and soul both, being torn apart by vicious metaphysical claws, poking into every corner and ripping at every nerve like a surgeon gone mad. It felt as though no corner went untouched.

The digimon cried out, roared, and keened with pain; but what they heard, far more than themselves, were the voices of the human children in their cores screaming in pain.  
>That sound was unbearable, far more than the pain itself was.<p>

The only way the warriors could tell that they were slipping unconscious was the fact that the pain was starting to dull and their minds were growing fuzzy.

* * *

><p>Simon opened his eyes and immediately threw his arms up to shade them. It was brilliant white all around; his entire body was numb, but he could look down and see his physical form well enough. That was just about all he could see; as best he could tell, he was simply floating in a white expanse.<p>

"What's going on?" he said, more to himself than anything, but he heard no echo, and could barely hear himself; he had no sign that he had said anything, except for the memory of the words.

"Simon!" a very familiar voice called- and though it was a voice in his head, not a sound he could pinpoint the location of, he felt the need to turn himself around with a wrench of his sensation-devoid body. He did, with a bit of difficulty; floating just behind him was Egakumon. The rabbit seemed much more alert and aware of himself than Simon was, gripping his paintbrush in one hand and looking at his partner. "What's going on?" Egakumon asked.

"I don't know," Simon answered; but this time, he felt a compulsion to try another route. He did not try to open his mouth, merely thought the words- spoke with his heart, to use a cliche. It seemed to work. "I was asking the same thing."

"You don't think this is the end of the line, do you?" Egakumon said; his tone was inscrutable, neither hopeful nor defeated. He looked to his human partner, scanning his face. Simon noted that Egakumon was able to speak normally, but chose not to think too hard about it- no, there were other things to concentrate on.

The very thought implied by Egakumon's words caused a pit to drop in Simon's stomach- followed by a fire of indignation.  
>No. It wasn't the end. This was something that Genesimon's attack had done- but he was still alive. He could still feel his heart beating. Couldn't he?<p>

Even though his body felt heavy, he lifted a hand. For a moment, he was afraid that he would feel nothing- but when his hand rested on his chest, and beating defiantly on was his heart, thumping steady as a war-drum. He felt angry; angry at Era, angry at Genesimon. It set his soul on fire- it was not a vengeful anger; it was anger at something wrong, and a need to set it right.

"Of course it isn't," Simon said decisively; he could sense a warm feeling seeping out from his heart out through his body, re-gaining feeling as it spread.

"I was hoping you were gonna say that," Egakumon said, and he burst into a grin. Simon couldn't place why, exactly, but it felt like the rabbit knew something he wasn't saying- but it was easy to get distracted from that thought.

Then, another familiar shape - though admittedly, not one that either of them had ever seen from an outsider's perspective - began to appear, forming a triangle with the boy and the rabbit.  
>Kisekimon's form began to appear. His head was bowed, his body slack; both of his swords were gripped loosely in his hands, his scarf trailing behind him like a long tail. It was not quite fully <em>there<em>- it was an apparition, half-transparent and even more weightless than the pair. Faint but clear to see (especially against the stark background), Kisekimon was flanked on either side by two familiar rabbits, one black and one white- StarShokunimon and Shokunimon floated alongside their higher form, eyes closed.  
>Simon and Egakumon looked around themselves, then to one another.<p>

From the first day they had met, through every battle they won and every battle they lost- from facing down with Gargoylemon, fighting to calm Narakamon, to standing against Javermon and Reapermon.  
>Even back to when Simon was a young boy, lost in fantasies- pretending to be a hero.<br>They had tried, at every turn, to make themselves a hero worthy of their Virtue.

Simon... well, even if there was nothing at stake, even if his own world would be left unharmed, it didn't matter. He had been chosen to be a hero- he had, intentionally or not, taken the lead of the team of rag-tag lonely kids. He may not have been the perfect hero, and he may not be the smartest or strongest, even on the team.  
>But he was a hero nonetheless. Now was no time to stop.<p>

Simon and Egakumon reached out to each other, the boy's gloved hand grabbing a hold of the rabbit's big clawed one. A familiar light began to overtake them, tinged with red, but this time, it came not from the boy's digivice- but from Egakumon, starting as a pinprick of reddish light in Egakumon's chest and moving out at blinding speed.

In a surge of red, all but one of the figures were gone- and Kisekimon's head lifted, his body fully formed and corporeal.  
>The white abyss around him beginning to crack apart; Kisekimon gripped his swords tightly, raising his head.<p>

* * *

><p>Andrea found herself, at the same time, in the same white abyss; she floated, numb from head to toe. She closed her eyes, blocking out the searing white all around her. Unlike Simon, she did not have to look for her partner; Rajamon was curled around her legs, feeling much more substantial - weighted - than Andrea herself did.<p>

Her head was foggy. There was just too much to handle; even here, she was too caught up in what was outside to allow herself to relax. They had a battle to complete; there was a war to be won yet. ... so why did she feel so apprehensive?

"Are you afraid?" Rajamon's voice asked as he looked up to his partner, craning his neck.

Andrea breathed out slowly; she paid special attention to the air as it left her lungs. She was taking stock of each breath she took, a reminder that she was indeed still breathing.

"Of course I am," she said without actually speaking, tilting her head back to look upwards as she opened her eyes- not that it would have changed her view, of course. It was all just endless white.

"I'm afraid to mess this up. I'm afraid of what will happen if we don't succeed. And I'm not gonna lie- Genesimon freaks me right the heck out." Though her mouth did not move, she seemed to smile, dry and sardonic. She looked down to Rajamon; his eyes were fixed on hers, his face unreadable.

Rajamon uncurled from around his partner, and drifted forward, until he stood - floated - facing Andrea. "But will you still fight?" the tiger said, flicking his tail, but he knew the answer before he even said a word.

At that moment, between them and to the side, a tall shape began to form- but it was not the comfortable form of Kisekimon, as Simon had seen, nor the familiar shapes that her friends and allies were seeing simultaneously. No, it was a tall shape, with a skeletal face and a mane of purple fire. Yellow eyes glowed in empty sockets, as four viciously-clawed legs hung limp.

Narakamon's shape was only partially visible, half-transparent and barely there, but it was enough. They could almost feel its putrid, rattling breath. For a split second, Andrea felt a surge of fear- but she shook it away and looked to Rajamon. She could feel the glowing, dead eyes on her- but she powered through. It would take a lot more than _that_ to scare her again.

"Of course I will," Andrea said decisively, and from her chest, she felt a warmth begin to spread out to her fingertips. As she said that, Narakamon's shape began to disintigrate, crumbling away into dust and ash and a burst of cold flame. In its place, rising like a particularly feline-like phoenix, was ImperialBaghamon. The lion's head was bowed, and all four of his muscled arms hung at his sides. His scimitars were nowhere to be seen, and his tail swayed as though blown by the wind. On either side of him, they could see the fainter shapes of Baghamon and BurningBaghamon, heads bowed and breathing soft.

Andrea had let her pride get the best of her; she had let her history grab a hold of her and be used against her. She had been afraid, more than she had let on- from fighting the Woodmon in the forest in a strange new world, to allowing Rajamon to reach his Perfect form against Orochimon even when she feared Narakamon, to protecting her friends - and allowing herself to call them her friends - and fighting PileVolcamon in the Crater Valley. When her partner became Narakamon.  
>When her mother had died.<br>But she had always overcome it- she had made a promise to be brave- to her mother. To her partner. And she would be darned if she was going to break that.

She reached her hand out; Rajamon lifted one paw and placed it in her hand, a knowing smile on his furry face. Like an ember sparking into a fire, an orange light began to seep from the tiger's chest, covering both him and his partner in the blink of an eye.

A flash of light, and they, as well as the Adult and Perfect-level cats, were gone- and ImperialBaghamon lifted his arms and let out a roar. As flames began to play at his hands, summoning his scimitars, the white abyss began to fade away.

* * *

><p>Julian and Iguamon floated back to back in the vast white nothingness; they said nothing to one another, staring straight ahead into the abyss.<br>This was Genesimon's work; they were trapped in the voids of the beast's attack.

Or rather, Julian realized after a short stint, perhaps they weren't- perhaps they were trapped in their own heads, abstract and apart, somewhere else entirely- as close to nowhere as they could get. The calm in the eye of the storm.

He breathed out heavily, flexing his fingers- he could not feel much, could not even hear his breath. It was not a comfortable feeling by any stretch of the imagination.

"Iguamon?" he said without moving his mouth.

"Yes?" the dinosaur replied, flicking his tail and flexing his legs as he floated. Julian, not able to see that the dinosaur was speaking normally - just as his allies were, elsewhere.

"Is there a way out of this?" the boy said, looking off into the white distance. His voice was even, but he couldn't help but feel some sort of doubt in his head- they were in over their heads this time, and rack his brain though he might, he was struggling to find a way to defeat an enemy they were so mismatched against.

"There always is." Iguamon spoke plainly, closing his eyes. "We just need to find it."

_There always was a way._ Those words rang in Julian's head.

There had always been a way. When they had been outmatched, they simply grew stronger- they reached new forms, tried new strategies.  
>They had fought, despite being outmatched by Forbidramon and the Reapers both in turn.<br>They had fought even though the sovereigns fell one by one- finding ways to fight back, prolong the battle, even in the face of a monster that could tear the worlds apart at the seams.  
>Changing. His time here certainly had changed him. He couldn't deny it. Fighting alongside his brother- his new friends.<p>

Always finding the bit of information they needed, growing stronger. Always finding a way out.

He had always kept on top of it (or, at least, he had tried); why should now be any different? There had always been a way out before.

"We're going to find it," Julian said after a moment. "I don't know how. But when has that ever made a difference?" And just like that, he felt a tingling sensation start- starting in his chest, in his heart, and moving outwards, until his fingertips and toes and the crown of his head were engulfed by an odd warmth.  
>He turned his body with a bit of effort; Iguamon did the same, looking up at his partner as he flexed his claws. In the dinosaur's red eyes shone nothing but kindness and belief and understanding; a million words passed between them, unsaid. But really, all this time, it had always been the same words: <em>we'll find a way.<em>

To the side, then, WarTriassimon's shape began to form, incorporeal but clear as day. His eyes were closed underneath his skull mask; his spear lay slack in his hand, his head bowed, his body floating free and relaxed. Julian and Iguamon looked at the body of the warrior they formed together. Astride him, they saw the misted shapes of Triassimon and Velocimon, the more beastly dinosaurs flanking their humanoid Mega form.  
>Julian bowed his head. The Drimogemon from the caves; the SkullGreymon in the jungle; PicoDaemon, fighting before Zhuqiaomon, at the mouth of the volcano.<br>There was always a way to change, to overcome, be it in battle or in his childhood. He could adapt; he could change, and they could turn the tides of this battle yet.

Iguamon held out one hand. Julian did not hesitate to grab hold of it, gloved hand clasped in gloved hand; the dinosaur began to glow when they touched, a comfortable warm light.

A surge of green, and a warm feeling overcame WarTriassimon as his lower forms vanished like smoke. He gritted his teeth, opened his eyes, held his spear tight, as their white surroundings began to melt away- as they emerged from the void.

* * *

><p>When he came to, Faris felt like he had been hit by a truck- or rather, that he had been hit by a truck and was subsequently hopped up on every kind of painkiller. He could feel no part of his body, and his body fell forward, slack and loose. Everything around him was white, searing and blank.<br>Delfinimon floated a short distance in front of him. While Faris himself felt numb and motionless, she was moving through the air slowly but gracefully, like she were playing in the waves instead of in the middle of the air.

Faris had tried to speak up, but nothing he said worked- all sound died as soon as it left his mouth. He merely looked at the dolphin in front of him. Her big violet eyes were fixed on him, scanning for... something.

"What's on your noggin, yeom?" the dolphin asked. Just like the others, she spoke aloud. She smiled, but her eyes were just a tiny bit more solemn than they usually were.

"Too much," Faris said honestly- or, tried to. He couldn't tell what it was, but he realized again that his voice died, and repeated himself without speaking- that seemed to work.

He wanted to fight back, but he didn't want to go home. He didn't want this to end, but he was afraid of what would happen if it stayed the way it was- with Genesimon tearing apart this world that had come to matter so much.  
>But even with all that in mind, he had no idea what he could do. He wasn't sure where he was- well. Aside from the obvious- in a big white void. He could even extrapolate that he was inside Genesimon's attack, but it felt... like he wasn't quite real.<br>This might well have just been inside his head.

And that? That was a lot to think about.

"Are you afraid to face what's outside?" the dolphin said after a moment, her words cutting through Faris' reverie.

He blinked a couple times, and tried to laugh aloud. When that failed, he laughed within his head, and that time, the noise came across. It was in part a joyless laugh, a bit bitter, but part genuine. "You're good at figuring me out, aren't you, tuna fish?"

"We're partners, yeom," Delfinimon said, decisively.

"Do you think it'll be okay?" the dolphin said after a moment, looking over at Faris and once more scanning his face for _something_.

He searched himself and...  
>Yes. He did. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he could face it with a smile- he could make the best of it. He would fight, he would manage to keep on after they won. Because they <em>would<em> win; he could feel that. That's what let him go on with a smile.

"Yeah," Faris said, and even though he felt apprehensive, he managed to mean what he said.

"I knew you'd say that," Delfinimon said. "Yeom."

"Knew you'd say _that_," Faris deadpanned back, and then his numb body began to grow warm- starting in his core and seeping out gradually until there was no inch of him that didn't feel warm.

Out of the blinding-bright light, the enormous form of Galeomon began to take shape; though she was, as she always was, the size of a bus, she had no weight, was able to float just as lightly as boy and dolphin. Faris looked over to the tremendous shark; she, too, floated like Delfinimon had, though the shark looked more as though she were being carried along by the tide. She brought with her the even-less-solid shapes of Shayumon and MetalShayumon; for a moment, Faris couldn't help but think of Galeomon's - _their_ - Shark Attack.

Faris thought back; he had faced every trouble with a smile, or at the least a quip that allowed him to pretend he knew what he was doing. The Dolphmon they had faced as they sunk into the ocean; scrapping with Datamon in the factory; Plesiomon, in the underground cave. He wasn't using the joking as an escape- not anymore. Not since he came here. It was a way to keep his head up even when things were dark.

"Let's go light this thing up," Faris said, holding out his arms for Delfinimon; she writhed her tail and beamed, all but swimming through the air into her partner's arms. Pressed flush as they were, they couldn't see the light that began to engulf Delfinimon until it had all but overtaken them both- nor could Faris see the expression on Delfinimon's face, a sly look, a look of knowing just a bit more than she was telling.

Everything went seafoam-green, just for a moment; Galeomon writhed her large body, flexing her claws and flaring her nostrils as her weaker forms vanished. The white began to wash away- and just as well, as she would have found a way to tear it down herself if it hadn't.

* * *

><p>Emily looked around herself, but everything was stark white and empty. She couldn't make a noise; she could hardly feel her own body, and - most importantly - she couldn't find Kamomon. She looked up, down, around- but she wasn't able to tell if she was turning, with no point of reference. Everything was just endless white. She tried calling out; it didn't work.<p>

"Emily!" Kamomon's voice cawed out as the girl looked around frantically; he came into view a minute later. While Emily felt weightless, he had to flap his wings, not as graceful as he might have been, to keep afloat. "I would never leave," he said before she even had the chance to speak.

"I know," Emily said back, more than a bit sheepish. In the heightened emotion, she had a moment of panic. She continued looking around; she tried to frown, but it seemed that her mouth did not want to move. "Where are we?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," the bird replied.

"How do we get out?" Emily said quickly, even though she didn't expect her partner to have an answer for her.

The bird shook his head with a shrug of his wings. "I don't know. I think this may be... some sort of illusion, inside the voids that that monster sucked us into. To try and make us-"

"Give up," Emily finished for him, casting her eyes downwards and falling silent. Though she did not realize that this assumption was incorrect, it seemed perfectly viable. She felt every inch of her body; she was floating, lighter than air. It would make sense that this wasn't real, but then why did Kamomon have a feeling of weight to him? She could still feel... some amount of power, some connection to her partner, but it was fuzzy, unclear.

"You don't think this is the end of the line, do you?" Kamomon asked, but he wasn't flustered in the slightest- he didn't doubt her for a second. He just wanted to hear her say what he knew she felt.

Emily looked to Kamomon, looked into his big yellow eyes.

They had fought so hard, and come this far. So what if it looked bleak? That had never stopped her before. She had always stood by, even when she felt afraid- and even when she wondered if what they were doing would work. Kamomon had always stood by her side, just as she had always stood at her friends'.

No way she could give up now. It was insulting even to think.

"No way," she said. As she said the words, she began to regain feeling in her body, slow and creeping but comfortable all the way. "The point of no return was ages ago."

Kamomon puffed out his chest-feathers. He could not hold the big smile off of his face, and every inch of him seemed to burst with pride and happiness, of certainty.

Next to them, the tremendous form of Rocmon began to appear- he was like a ghost, light and delicate despite his massive size as he towered over the girl and bird. It was impressive to see how large their final form was, really, from the perspective of an outsider.  
>His head was bowed low; his wings hung limp at his sides, his feathers all out of order and ruffled. His eyes were closed, and his talons flexed, grabbing weakly at nothing. Even fainter was the shape of Ospreymon, floating to one side; and kneeling down in front of both huge birds was Kaizokumon.<p>

Emily looked to her partner. Had they ever really had the choice to turn back? She wouldn't know- if they were given it, she didn't see it. Every time they pressed forward and grew stronger - when Kamomon digivolved first to Kaizokumon to fight Deputymon, or to Ospreymon to protect their new friends, or when they became Rocmon together to face down with Gryphonmon- it just cemented them further. The point of no return was a distant memory.  
>There had been plenty of times where, maybe before, she would have given up- gotten discouraged, or believed her friends didn't need her; but that Emily was no more.<p>

Kamomon held out one wing, beaming proudly at his partner. She beamed back, grabbing hold of his feathered hand; even under the puffed-out feathers of Kamomon's chest, the light was plain to see, almost as if the avian's pride had turned into blue light and was forcing its way out.

With a loud keen, Rocmon spread his wings and lifted into the air, talons flexing. With one beat of his wings, his lower forms were dispersed like smoke; further beats spread snowflakes around him, but the endless white that surrounded him began to melt away.

* * *

><p>Toby's eyes slid closed as he sunk his face into the hood gathered around his neck. The fabric had absorbed some of the perfumed scent of Lammon's smoke; the familiar, comfortable aroma granted him a bit of serenity.<br>This was a good thing, because, if he was being completely honest, he would much prefer being stuck alone in the dark to being wherever it was he was now.

Like all of his friends, he could not feel much of his body; he could move, yes, but he was floating, with no concept of up and down or where he was in relation to anything else.

And he couldn't deny that the disorientation sent a bolt of panic down his spine; even so, he was determined not to show it. Slowly, he opened his eyes, looked around into the blinding white. "Lammon?" he said, but he was taken aback- he had actually not tried to speak aloud, but the word had come out regardless- quite the opposite problem than his friends had encountered on the subject.

What followed was a few moments of tense silence, still and quiet to the point where Toby could hear his own heart beating.

He could not say what it was that compelled him to turn around, but he did with a bit of effort. Lammon floated there; her head was quirked to one side, her legs were tucked underneath her body, and her smoky ponytail swirled in on itself with no breeze or motion to disperse it.

"What's going on?" Toby asked, though he didn't expect an answer. Looking around made him more than a little dizzy, so he chose to focus his gaze on the sheep digimon before him.

"Genesimon's attack," Lammon supposed as she looked around, her nose twitching as she talked.

"We're still inside of it, you mean?" Toby said, furrowing his brow, but Lammon shook her head.

"I don't think so," she said slowly, looking back to her partner. She felt something within herself- this was no illusion, and part of no attack.

"It's nice," Toby said, closing his eyes again. He felt the same way that Lammon had- but he had fewer ways to articulate it, could not fully explain why the feeling in his heart was telling him this place was a positive thing.  
>This place, whatever it was, was protecting them - give them a chance to come back fighting- not hinder them. "But we still have to find a way out, don't we?" he said after a short pause, frowning. Lammon nodded her head, looking around again, but looking at Toby himself, her face kind but giving away nothing.<p>

Was he afraid of whatever lay outside? Of course. It was far and away the scariest thing they had faced in this world- and indeed, a lot of weird things had happened since they had gotten here. But every time, Toby knew as he thought back, their partners had been there for them.

Toby, on his own, was afraid of a lot of things, ranging from 'the dark' to 'giant abominations trying to destroy multiple worlds', but none of that mattered. Fighting with Lammon, as MagnaAriamon, he had no reason to be afraid of anything.

"Let's go," he said then, and a warm feeling began to spread from his chest. He began to re-gain feeling, starting to feel like he weighed something again.  
>When he spoke, a Digimon's form began to materialize out of the light; Toby, of course, turned to look.<p>

MagnaAriamon, as insubstantial as smoke and light, floated there; her wings were flared out, barely visible at all. Her staff was gripped loose in one hand, and though her eyes were always closed, she didn't seem to be awake behind them as she usually did. As though she were a shepherd, they could see the shapes of Ariamon and Nimbimon floating lightly behind her.  
>Toby looked from the higher-leveled sheep to Lammon, and smiled faintly.<p>

Every step of the way, she had always had his back- and he, hers, whether they were fighting an Ankylomon, a SkullBaluchimon, or even the reaper Epidemon, she had stood strong, but he knew, now, she couldn't have done that by herself. Toby was not simply dragged along for the ride, a child who had to be protected at every turn; without him at her side, Lammon wouldn't have the strength to protect. Without Lammon, he wouldn't have believed he could give her strength.

Lammon came forward, and even though she was floating, she seemed to have trouble orienting herself on her hind legs. She placed both her hooves in Toby's hands; he couldn't stop himself from smiling as a purple light began to erupt from the sheep's chest, expanding and engulfing the pair.

A moment later, MagnaAriamon lifted herself into the air, wielding her staff expertly. Her eyes opened with a flash of white light, and the endless expanse of white began to dissolve around the warrior.

* * *

><p>This wasn't the first time Luke felt out of touch with his body- though the last time, it had been significantly less... calm. White and achingly quiet was, in fact a marked improvement; he relaxed his mind to follow his all-but-numb body. He did not try to speak aloud, instead quite immediately going for the less direct approach.<p>

"So this is it, huh?"

"Of course it isn't," Sampamon's voice said, calm and serene, from behind Luke. He did not turn; he didn't need to, as she slithered her way around to her partner's front within moments. Contrasted against the sheer white, her body looked like a streak of ink, black and inter-cut with bursts of colour; she moved like a liquid, taking to this like a natural. (She seemed a bit pleased that she could move on more than a flat horozontal plane in this form, for once.)

"You don't think so?" Luke said; he was a bit taken aback, and he found some part of himself doubting the snake's words.

"No," Sampamon said, shaking her head. "This place is neither a prison nor an end," she continued, craning her neck to look around.

"You know, you have a real skill for speaking most cryptically when I'm most confused," Luke said dryly.

"You've told me. I would hate to disappoint," Sampamon replied, a faint smile playing on her face.  
>Sampamon knew - as did all of the digimon - where this was, and what, but she - also like her allies - could not place why, exactly, it had happened. She knew that something was protecting them. Or rather, that something was protecting their partners. She had a good hunch as to what it was protecting them, too, but...<br>She was unsure, and even were she more certain, she couldn't be sure she would explain quite right.

Luke tried to read Sampamon's face, but found nothing there. He could not find it in him to begrudge her; she had her reasons for what she did, he knew. He chose not to dwell on it. "So we need to get out of here, right?" he said, instead of prying.

Sampamon nodded. She did not say that it sounded as though Luke was almost hesitant- he knew, had probably noticed the tone in his own voice just as readily as his partner had.

He couldn't deny that he was tired. It was hard, running on full-blast all this time- physically and emotionally, he felt he hadn't truly rested since he got to this world. Everywhere he had looked, there was something demanding attention- digimon in need, conflict within the group, and of course, Era at every turn.  
>Some part of him wanted to rest, even if just for a moment. They had done so much.<p>

But they were still needed. Even as they barreled towards the end, towards their parting- an eventuality that Luke, quite frankly, did not want to face. How could he go back, after this? How could any of them go back? He wasn't afraid of what lay outside of this little bubble, this space outside of space; he was afraid of what came after it.  
>It was hard to blame him if, for just a little while, he wanted to stop time here- alone, at peace, with his partner at his side.<p>

But when he thought that, the rest of his mind reprimanded him. To think that way was hideously selfish of him. And more than that- he wasn't the only one. The other kids felt the same, he knew; and even when it was all over, they had eachother, people who had been through the same, who knew the world they had to leave behind when they went back to their own.  
>It didn't dull the pain of what was to come, but it was a truth he couldn't let himself forget.<p>

For the good of himself, the friends he had found, both worlds they now called home.

"Well. Shall we?" he said, as though he were asking his digimon partner for a dance instead of asking her to return to battle with an unnatural abomination.  
>Sampamon smiled and bowed her head, and Luke felt a pang of something warm and almost sad shoot through his veins.<p>

If Sampamon had looked like a streak of ink in the white abyss, the form that began to take shape next to them was a sea of it. The tremendous shape of Quetzacoatimon, insubstantial as vapor, began to appear next to the pair. Her head was bowed as if it were too heavy for her to keep open, her wings tucked in at her sides, her eyes closed. Like trails of ink dripping away from the source, on either side of her were the faded shapes of Serpemon and HebiDramon, heads bowed just as their Mega's was.

Luke looked to his partner, and she at him.  
>They had been through a lot. Forbidramon and Reimon felt like distant memories. Every new level that Sampamon had reached, every battle they had endured, had pushed that time further away, kept them moving forward. Magoriamon, Forbidramon, Javermon- it definitely seemed that they needed to face down with Era's minions to get stronger, make of that what you will. They couldn't get any stronger, now- there were no higher forms to be reached, but that didn't mean they couldn't fight on.<p>

Luke reached out with one hand; Sampamon, lacking hands of her own to grab on with, slithered forward through the air, and placed her head in his hand, pressing the gem on her forehead up and into his palm. A rich pink light started to glow from the area of Sampamon's heart, and spread out until it had overtaken both boy and snake.

Quetzacoatimon's eyes snapped open; a flap of her wings dispersed her smaller doppelgangers as she let loose a roar, lifting herself higher into the air as the white around them began to fade back to the darkness of Yggdrasil's hollow.

* * *

><p>Genesimon's attack, were it aimed at any other digimon, would likely have made short work of them.<p>

The problem, of course, being that it had been aimed at digimon unlike any others. Digimon fused with the seeds of Yggdrasil. Digimon fused with humans. Digimon that were able to use the power of Yggdrasil to protect themselves- and their partners.  
>Digimon that were now rising once more from the black swirling abysses that Genesimon had created, coming back with a vengeance and ready to get some well-deserved payback.<p>

It was just in time, too- however long they had spent in their pockets of nowhere, Genesimon had done some damage in the meantime. The tree was corrupt beyond recognition- all they could see were streams of data, unconnected to eachother, distorting and surging and shifting erratically. They were tinged with red, and all around them, they could see flashes of the digital world- and to say it was in poor condition was a vast understatement.  
>Hidden under these streams of data, criss-crossing and shifting and surging, was a core- a pure white pillar, like a tree root reaching forever both into the sky and forever below them. Though it seemed infinitely long, it wasn't terribly large in comparison to the tree itself- only perhaps a thousand square feet at its thickest as best they could see.<p>

And Genesimon was about to fuse with it.  
>Era stood at the beast's base, facing the core; he did not immediately notice the return of the warriors who had a bone to pick with his plans.<p>

MagnaAriamon was first to act; her wings flared out, and she leapt into the air. "**Pure Storm**!" she cried, and immediately, dense dark clouds formed overhead. They began to pour a torrent of shining-white rain; Genesimon immediately hissed, but before it could act, two more warriors were on the case.

"**Blast Burst**!" Kisekimon yelled, leaping into the air and firing twin white-hot blasts of energy from his hands, aiming eagle-eyed at the orb embedded in Genesimon's left shoulder. Before he fell back to earth, Quetzacoatimon was quick to swoop in, catching the samurai in mid-air, where he took a place alongside ImperialBaghamon and WarTriassimon. The rain, though it stung and fizzled when it touched Genesimon, passed through the warriors like either they or the rain was incorporeal.

"**Spectrail Tail**!" Quetzacoatimon roared, swiping her tail-tip through the air to release a shimmering rainbow-hued blade of energy. Both Kisekimon's white energy and Quetzacoatimon's colourful attack hit the orb in Genesimon's shoulder in a one-two rhythm, sending the tiniest hairline cracks down its surface; either these cores took less to break than the one in its stomach had (unlikely), or the shattering of the first core had weakened the whole (much more likely).

By the time Genesimon was able to turn, Galeomon and Rocmon were quick to act. Rocmon had lifted Galeomon up by her shoulders, up above Genesimon's head. When the shark pulled forward, the bird dropped her right above the opposite shoulder's core.

"**Wavebreak Crash**!" Galeomon roared as she dropped, a swirling sphere of water immediately surrounding her body. She did a full body-check on Genesimon's right shoulder-core, the water cushioning her and allowing her to deflect- and adding more oomph to her attack.

Rocmon was next, swooping in, talons glowing with icy energy."**Roc Claw**!" he keened, smashing his claws into the orb that Galeomon had just air-dropped onto and away from. His talons visibly cracked the sphere, sinking in and spreading large splinters through its surface. He immediately flapped away, using his huge wings to disorient - and almost taunt - Genesimon as he backed away.

Genesimon roared, a deep gurgling noise. Its single eye twitched visibly. "**Annihilator Beam**!" it hissed, acting without a target as the red beam ripped its way Instead, it writhed and snapped its head from side to side, attempting to get as wide an area as possible. It clearly suffered for the lack of focus- Genesimon could not move terrifically fast, and the seven warriors were able to evade the beam.

From below, even among the ruckus, they could hear Era's voice in a tone they could honestly say they had never heard from him before- it was a _scream_, ragged and sounding like it tore his throat bloody on the way out.

"**_FOCUS!_**"

The instructions were not aimed at the warriors, but that didn't mean they had not to listen.

"After you," ImperialBahamon drawled to WarTriassimon beside him. The dinosaur shot him a sidelong look and rolled his eyes, before kicking off of Quetzacoatimon's back and throwing himself towards the core in Genesimon's right shoulder.

"**Triple Threat**!" he snarled, rearing his hands back. He did not use his spear; he merely slammed his claws, now surging with energy, into the sphere, spreading cracks from the points of impact. His claws scraped the surface of the core with a horrendous screeching sound, tracing deep grooves in the crystalline orb. In a heartbeat, one of Genesimon's tentacles shot forward to grab the dinosaur; he immediately let go and thrashed out with his tail, both to land one last blow, and also to give himself a bit of a push away from Genesimon. He narrowly avoided the tentacle; as he fell to the ground, Galeomon leapt towards him, deftly catching and cupping him in her claws before he hit the ground.

Not a second later, ImperialBaghamon too leapt from Quetzacoatimon's back, aiming for the left shoulder core. In mid-air, plumes of fire surrounded all four of his hands and, by extension, all four of his curved blades.  
>"<strong>Imperial Saber<strong>!" the lion roared, slamming all four of his sabers forward as though they were climbing hooks and not weapons. Huge fractures shot out from where the points had forced their ways in, glowing white as though back-lit. Again, a tentacle shot out from Genesimon's back, to attempt to strangle the lion. Just like his comrade, he was quick to leap away- he wrenched his blades out of the rock-like core, falling to earth. Galeomon couldn't run fast enough to catch the cat, but MagnaAriamon had the feline's back.

Despite their difference in statures, MagnaAriamon was able to catch ImperialBaghamon in mid-air- though she had to drift to the ground, as he did outmatch her in size and was more than a little cumbersome.

"Appreciated," ImperialBaghamon grunted; the sheep priestess merely nodded, smiling faintly.

From above, on Quetzacoatimon's back, all seven warriors could hear Kisekimon's voice yelling a simple command:

"_Give it all you got!_"

Well, who were they to disagree? The air was filled with the cries of attacks in the blink of an eye.

"**Electro Break**!" Galeomon snarled, lobbing a huge sphere of electricity. Right shoulder.

Crack.

"**God Fist**!" ImperialBaghamon roared, punching forward in the air to release a fiery aura. Left shoulder.

Crack.

"**Shining Break**!" MagnaAriamon cried, loud and clear, tracing a circle in the air with her staff to release a golden beam of energy. Left shoulder.

Crack.

"**Bitter Hailstorm**!" Rocmon keened, spreading his wings wide to fire a rain of razor-sharp icicles. Right shoulder.

Crack.

"**Armor Breaker**!" WarTriassimon yelled, lobbing his spear cleanly through the air. Right shoulder.

Crack.

"**Nova Blade**!" Kisekimon cried, leaping from Quetzacoatimon's back to smash his sword blade-first into a core, then leap away with sword in hand. Left shoulder.

Crack.

"**Brilliant Hunter**!" Quetzacoatimon roared, loud enough to shake the earth, as she spread her wings. A wave of coloured energy, sharp as knives, was released, in a wide enough spread to hit...

Both shoulders.

Shatter.

Simultaneously, both of the red cores embedded in Genesimon's shoulders shattered, like broken glass, into a thousand pieces, leaving empty holes behind.

Genesimon did not make a sound. Though one core remained embedded in its chest, it was throbbing rapidly and prominently, sending cracks throughout its very chest. It was very visibly deteriorating before their very eyes; data was ripping in and out of its body, all focused on the one core that remained.  
>It threw its head back and began to seize; the warriors could feel the world around them around them starting to distort in kind, could see what remained of Yggdrasil promptly <em>flip out<em>. Those warriors still in the air landed, not feeling safe in the air. (Not that it felt much safer on the ground, but that was beside the point.)

And speaking of flipping out!

Era began to _scream_, a steady torrent of obscenities. He shook violently, powered entirely by pure rage and hate; if they looked close, they might even see the thin trickle of blood that was starting to seep out of his mouth- perhaps the screaming really was ripping his throat raw.

Genesimon continued to seize and shift in total silence. Corrupted data flashed around it. The warriors could only stand by and watch- not for fear, but because they felt themselves all but root to the spot as one more time - one _last_ time, Genesimon began to change shape. This time, it was not engulfed by light- instead, all of a sudden, it seemed to _collapse_, almost like a dying star. For a split second, Genesimon seemed to be gone, vanished into nothingness.  
>Only once that had happened did it suddenly grow very bright.<p>

Era went entirely silent, breathing heavily; a smile like a hungry wolf's grin slowly found its way onto his face, his eyes wild.

The light did not last, but floating where the final core in Genesimon's chest had been was a form.

A disturbingly human-like form. For indeed, it was very human in appearance- more or less, and _much_ more so than its previous forms, as it was in fact slightly shorter than Era himself. It was pure white and ethereal, glowing faintly in the dark, to the point where its edges seemed to be blurred. It became clearer as it began to sink down to ground level, very slowly.  
>Bandages were wrapped around the lower half of its head. A solid golden mask covered its face; in the middle of the mask's forehead was a delicate carving of an eye, very akin to the one eye of Genesimon's previous form. Further down, there were two shallow pits where proper eyes might have been on its face, but underneath the mask was nothing but black- in fact, these seemingly-hollow eye pits in the mask were the one part of its body that did not give off an eerie glow.<p>

Its arms were crossed over his chest, hands resting on its shoulders; embedded in the backs of its hands, and apparently fastening them to the shoulders, were a pair of black orbs; unlike the red ones, however, they seemed to lack all sheen, and if the warriors could not see them from angles, they would almost assume they were simply holes in its flesh. Two identical orbs sat in its chest and abdomen, in roughly the same locations as the red cores in the giant's. Only the one in its chest was different from the others; it throbbed slowly like a beating heart, expanding to the point where it seemed it might break, before relaxing once more. Small cracks in its flesh surrounded all four of the orbs.

Six tentacles sprouted from between its shoulderblades, arcing gracefully downwards, to the point where they almost looked like wings; each was tipped in a delicate gold. More bandages were wrapped around its waist; its thighs were pressed flush together, almost fused. Below that, it did not have proper legs; instead, it had two long tendrils that, much like the tail of its previous form, curled together in a double-helix, each appendage ending in a point rather than a foot.

If it weren't for the situation at hand, it would be beautiful.

Era said nothing. He merely began to laugh, ragged and tired. Slowly, he straightened up. He took a single step back, deliberate and calculated, and came into contact with the root-like core of Yggdrasil. In an instant, he was gone- he had fled, headed for the real world partnered to this Digital World.  
>He had left them alone with something he had not planned, or designed.<p>

Even Era had no idea what was about to happen. He didn't care to be around to find out.


	50. Chapter 50: No Crying Until the End

_A/N: i'm going to cry because i don't know how to handle this there's only one chapter left and it will be out next week uhm oh my god wow please review this is kind of huge to me_

* * *

><p>"No!" Kisekimon snapped, moving to follow Era, but ImperialBaghamon was quick to grab hold of the samurai's wrist to hold him back- even though it took two of his hands, for the force with which Kisekimon lunged forward.<p>

"Don't be stupid," ImperialBaghamon growled low, but his eyes were fixed on the ethereal new form that Genesimon had taken.

When they had destroyed three of Genesimon's cores, the remaining data - now loosed from the containment of the cores, but still bound intrinsically to Genesimon itself, as it still had _a_ core to bind to -, it had been like all of the data and information and _power_ in its tremendous body had collapsed into the one remaining core, like a white dwarf star. The result of this floated before them, sucking in data from what few streams remained encircling the core of Yggdrasil.

In other words, the warriors were getting the distinct impression that however impressive their progress was, they had accidentally made everything worse for themselves.

But they had faced insurmountable odds before- they had done it not mere minutes ago. If every step forward they make made it get harder, but they were still making steps forward, then that just meant they were getting just as hard to deal with for the other side... right?

Right.

That said, it was hard not to get a little bit taken aback when they heard Genesimon make a new sound. To be quite honest, they'd have preferred to stay with the bestial groaning and static, because while this sound was far more familiar, it was even less _pleasant_, and that was saying something- the kind of sound that sticks in a person's head and echoes in their dreams in the years to come.  
>From behind its golden face mask, Genesimon was laughing. It was a high-pitched and nasty sound, undercut with a mocking, more-than-slightly-unhinged streak.<p>

It took quite an effort for a number of them not to lurch forward and attack. No, they knew too well what kind of power this creature possessed- or, rather, they knew too well that they had no idea how powerful this form was, and weren't about to take any risks. They rooted themselves to the ground, tense and ready to spring into action.

"Fools," Genesimon giggled, the first word they had heard it speak that wasn't an attack. It sounded almost like a child's voice, overflowing with ice-cold mirth. Its voice was androgynous, lilting, and clear- and it chilled them to the bone.

"I can't speak for anyone else, but I think I liked it better when it didn't talk, yeom," Galeomon mumbled, more to herself than as something meant to be heard.

Perhaps in response, the tendrils on Genesimon's back suddenly flared out, lifting from their downward-arced position. The top pair curled up over its shoulders, the middle curving near its waist, and the last arcing smoothly down near the double-helix of its tail.  
>"Fools. Fools. Fools. Fools. Fools."<br>It began to repeat itself, in exactly the same tone as before, like a broken record.

"**God Fist**!" ImperialBaghamon roared, as though trying to drown out the one-word mantra of the angel-like digimon before them. In a burst of flames, his blades vanished; his hands now free, he thrust all of his fists forward. The fiery aura leapt forth, crackling and flickering, as it always did; but before it could contact its target, its target was somewhere else.

_Somewhere else_ being a phrase that here meant _inches away from ImperialBaghamon_, the eye engraved in its golden mask seeming to stare into ImperialBaghamon. Genesimon had moved so fast that it was easy to miss, to think it had simply teleported.  
>"<strong>Touch of the Divine<strong>!" it giggled, all of its tentacles stretching to encircle ImperialBaghamon. The lion's pupils constricted, and he bared his teeth, bracing himself as the tendrils grabbed hold of him-

And then roared out in pain as they surged with light, causing his body to distort visibly.

Kisekimon growled, lunging forward at lightning speed with with one sword drawn. "**Nova Blade**!" he cried, attempting to bring his blade down on Genesimon- and was met with only air. He stumbled forward as he hit nothing, as once more, Genesimon had feinted away.  
>ImperialBaghamon dropped to one knee the moment he was released, breathing heavily through gritted teeth; WarTriassimon knelt to help him to his feet, and he did not rebuke the help. Far above them, Genesimon's tentacles came to rest again, as it looked down impassively at the warriors on the ground.<p>

"I will destroy," Genesimon said again in its high, childish voice. "I will destroy. I will destroy. I will destroy. I will destroy."  
>The more it spoke, the more they could hear something else creeping into its voice- a familiar timbre, just around the 'edges' of its voice. It was speaking as Era. It didn't seem to be speaking in a way something with a mind of its own would; it was likely it was parroting its creator.<br>"I will destroy everything."

"Not if we have anything to do with it," Rocmon growled, preparing to kick off the ground- but before he, or any of his allies, could kick off, Genesimon had another attack at the ready.

"**Sacrificial Flare**!" it giggled, and those preparing to lift into flight immediately abandoned such ideas. All seven warriors, in fact, felt themselves quite suddenly feeling much more tired than they had before. Their bodies shook; they began to glitch out, feeling themselves growing unstable.  
>Some - Rocmon, Galeomon, MagnaAriamon, and of course Kisekimon - tried to call attacks to retaliate even so; but they found that when they summoned the energy within themselves to manifest their attacks, it was immediately sapped away.<p>

Indeed, Genesimon was gathering energy. Not just any energy, mind- but energy it was actively stealing from its foes through some invisible force, adding it with just a pinch of its own power. If they looked up (which, admittedly, would be difficult) to Genesimon, they would see the white light being compacted into a sphere in front of it, just below its chin.

It was densely packed, a tremendous amount of energy and data packed into the space of a glass marble. In truth, it was only really visible by the contrast it had with the black orb embedded in Genesimon's collarbone; were it not for that, it would have been lost on the backdrop of Genesimon's glowing-white body.  
>Once it dropped it, however, it was perfectly visible- not just for the moment where it was silhouetted by the black and corruption-red of Yggdrasil's hollow, but because it was suddenly <em>blindingly bright<em>.

All of the energy that Genesimon had sapped away was released in one powerful burst, and that came with a lot of light. Of course, the warriors couldn't much see anything as the blast of energy knocked them backwards. The blow separated them, sending them tumbling head over heels backwards for a fair distance.

For a moment, their scattered bodies began to glow faintly, as though they were about to be forced to separate and de-digivolve.

* * *

><p>The warriors did not know that they had an audience.<p>

With Yggdrasil in as much disarray as it was, it should come as no surprise that the digital world was in a pretty messy state. Tears were spreading throughout the fabric of the world; even the battle in the Timeless River had ground to a halt, all eyes - those of Agents and rebels alike - looking to the sky. In areas left intact, even those not raging with battle, the sky was rent in kind. After all- if they could see out of Yggdrasil's hollow, would it not follow that others could see in?

How many of Era's agents had truly known what he was striving to do? Not many; most of them, indeed, had joined from fear, or intimidation, or had been reclaimed from eggs. Few of them had so much as seen Era, let alone know his plans.  
>Many of the Warriors' friends - and enemies alike - had fallen. Eggs lay strewn on the ground, and digimon lay defeated. Data had streamed off into the sky, but with Yggdrasil in such disarray, their data lingered free, shifting about the sky in streaks and streams from end to end of the digital world.<p>

In every area they had passed through, and every area that they had not, it was the same. Their friends, digimon who believed in the warriors, watched, with hope and belief in their hearts. Those who had doubted them, attacked them, tried to hinder their progress out of good intent... well. Let it be said that the doubt was gone.  
>Some, of course, could not be moved. Not every digimon had a change of heart; some digimon simply remained cynical, or had no hope in their hearts to ignite. Some stood by Era; some still believed the lies that Era had told them, and still doubted and hated.<p>

But for the first time in almost a century, since Era began to truly take power, those in the last group? They were in the minority.

It would be hard to say, afterwards, if these onlookers - peering through shifting rips in the sky, struggling to make out what was going on - had really affected anything.

But they watched the warriors.

They held support and belief and hope in their hearts- fear, of course. A lot of fear- afraid of the unknown, and of what could happen, and of Genesimon.  
>They wished and they hoped, and perhaps they they prayed, that those seven- fourteen - heroes would succeed, even as their world began to fall apart around them.<p>

* * *

><p>They couldn't let this world down. They couldn't risk their own.<br>If one attack was enough to bring them down, well, they barely deserved to call themselves warriors. They had survived Forbidramon; they had survived the Reapers. They had survived Genesimon's previous attacks- even those that felt like they were threatening to tear them apart.  
>This?<p>

This was nothing.

They had friends. They had worlds to fight for. They had digimon counting on them; they had people counting on them.  
>They didn't need a second breath; they were already riding on their thousandth breath since coming to this world, and if they could take that many, they hardly had to fear running out any time soon.<p>

"We will _never_," Kisekimon said, "give up." He had to use one sword almost like a cane to force himself to his feet, as the glow began to fade. What was odd was that, despite his being far away from his allies, all could hear him, loud and clear. They could hear Kisekimon's knightly voice, and also the voice of the boy and the rabbit who made Kisekimon up- three voices talking at once as though right next to each of them.

"We stand together," WarTriassimon said, and just like before him- the voice of the boy, the dinosaur, and the warrior all spoke as one, clear as day to all of his allies. "Just as we always have."

"And we're not afraid of any creep-show knockoff digimon made by a guy who clearly played way too many video games," Galeomon said; three voices, all speaking in tandem- and all sounding like they were grinning slyly, unable to resist making a crack at Era, even now.

Genesimon giggled again, as the warriors got to their feet, lifted into the air, prepared themselves to try one more time.  
>"This world will burn. Burn. Burn. Burn. Burn. Burn. Burn. Burn. <em>Burn.<em>"

... was it just them, or was its voice sounding more and more like Era's with every word?

Well, at any rate.

ImperialBaghamon was never one to let a challenge go. Burn? He could do that. "You want _burn_? Bring it, if you think you got the guts," he growled with a smirk- or rather, ImperialBaghamon, Rajamon, and Andrea growled with a smirk.  
>He surged forward; once more, he thrust his fists forward, even as he ran. "<strong>God Fist<strong>!"

Once more, Genesimon was gone a moment before the flames were able to hit it, shifted out of the way, in another place so quickly that it was like the warriors had missed something in their perception. ImperialBaghamon smirked- almost like distracting Genesimon was exactly what he was trying to do, instead of actually hitting it.  
>Because this time, someone else was ready.<p>

"**Ouroboros**!" Quetzacoatimon cried, writhing her body in the air, then biting onto her tail. She spun in the air just once, but that was enough; in the circle of empty space, black energy had gathered, and the moment she released her tail, shot forth in a powerful jet-black beam.  
>Genesimon was hit by the dark energy; as it was not looking at the snake, it didn't catch on in time to react. There was something oddly artistic about it, Genesimon's shining-white body silhouetted by the black beam on a black background.<p>

When it was hit, Genesimon was not moved and it did not suffer any recoil - but instead, its body distorted. It all but froze like that, for just a second; not like anything organic, or, really, any other digimon they had seen- it froze like a computer freezing up.  
>It didn't last long enough for anyone to get another attack prepared (not that they didn't try); in the blink of an eye it rolled its head and came back to life.<p>

"You will suffer for your sins," it intoned, and for a moment, its voice, too, seemed to have been distorted- like a sound file that had corrupted. "Suffer! Suffer! **Heaven's Absolution**!"

Once it finished speaking, its tentacles once again flared out; combined with its head and double-helix tail, it looked from even the slightest distance like a shining eight-pointed star. Its glow intensified until it was painful to look at; then, an impossibly thin line, like a single thread, stretched both skywards and forever downwards from Genesimon's head and the point of its tail.

Along that axis, it was as though the space around it was forced apart. It erupted with light, and the warriors began to feel themselves being dragged towards the split.

The last time Genesimon's attack had drawn them in... while it had ultimately made them come back fighting, nobody could really blame them for not wanting to repeat the experience. They dug in their heels and their claws, but its gravitation was hard to fight.

"It will be okay," MagnaAriamon said- and just like before, it was not just her voice, but of the boy and the sheep who comprised her, that reached her allies' ears (or, really, did it reach their ears? It felt like they heard it the same way they heard the children within their cores), just before the light engulfed them all. "We will make it out."

All believed her- for they knew she was right. No matter what Genesimon did, they could endure it.

Of course, by no means did that make it any more pleasant.

It was a reprise of the voids of Genesimon's previous form, only marginally better lit- it was not entirely dissimilar, visually, from the white voids that they had rested in. However, instead of a comfortable numbness, it felt like they were being split apart, in just the same way as Genesimon had split space; they cried out, they roared and screamed and hissed.  
>They could feel the power that was trying to break into their hearts, trying to pry their minds open and sift through what it found there; but this time, they found themselves able to resist, keep that much out.<p>

And as though offended by this, Genesimon redoubled its efforts at physical pain. Even in the brightly-lit void of white, some of them began to lose their vision, blacking out from the pain. The white light was like acid being poured into a wound, searing down their throats when they tried to scream and replacing the air in their lungs.

Every inch of their bodies was telling them not to move, to speak, to _exist_. Their resolve was breaking; they could feel tendrils of energy starting to creep in through the cracks-

And then they were ejected, thrown out of the white and back into the comfortable darkness. Their bodies shook and their chests heaved; thin tears streaked down the face of more than a couple of the warriors.

Genesimon was giggling again. The giggles were becoming more jarring, and disturbing as a result; its voice was becoming more and more like Era's, but its giggles remained high and child-like. "I will not destroy you quickly. I will make you hurt. I will make you hurt. I will make you _hurt_," Genesimon said, its tentacles once more relaxing as the thread of light began to fade, space once more falling into alignment.

It was becoming more eloquent. A long silence followed; Genesimon seemed to pause, waiting to see what its foes would do.

"Is that all you can do?" Quetzacoatimon hissed; like her allies, hers was three voices speaking in tandem. "You can hurt us as much as you want." She began to straighten up her huge body, breathing heavily. "But you can't scare us with that anymore."

"You can hurt us- you've proven that, lad," Rocmon said as he got to his feet, and it was a surreal thing indeed to hear the heavily-accented bird's deep voice mixed with the much lighter-accented, higher voice of his Child form, and of his female partner, "but we've got something to fight for. That's more important than anything you can do to us."

"We have something to protect."  
>Twenty-one voices - seven children, seven child digimon, seven megas - speaking in perfect tandem, as though some unseen force was giving them the words. They had friends to save, and friends to avenge. They had a world to protect.<br>"You will _never_ take this world from us. From anyone."  
>They got to their feet; they brandished their weapons and stood tall. They were damaged, they were hurt, they were bleeding; but they were ready for anything the angel-like abomination could throw at them. They were warriors, through and through- honorable, brave, adaptable, positive, dedicated, trusting, and compassionate all of them.<p>

And for the first time, Genesimon faltered- for the first time, they saw enough of a mind in Genesimon for it _to_ falter:

"I'll kill you!" it outright screamed, its voice shifting erratically between the childish timbre, Era's voice, and a mechanical screeching grind. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll _kill you_! **DIVINE LIGHT**!"

Around itself, Genesimon summoned semi-solid columns of light, data rushing around them; they burned through the invisible ground, destroying everything in their path. A circle of ten surrounded the area immediately surrounding Gensimon, as though protecting it; at random, pillars of light crashed through the battlefield, searing through at various angles and at various intensities- all focusing on the digimon.

It was impossible to predict when the next beam would form; if they stayed in place for more than a second, one would smash through them, but they seemed to be able to predict where the warriors were going to be.  
>They did not dissipate, merely stayed and burned away; this quickly turned the battlefield into a maze of light, which made things very difficult- the large digimon could barely avoid the beams, but the smaller ones were knocked between them like pinballs.<br>The energy felt as though it was burning them like acid- as though it was stripping away data from the affected area. Indeed, it _did_- for a few seconds after contact, any part of the warriors that had touched the light continued to shine with data as their bodies tried to repair themselves.

"Enough!" MagnaAriamon's voice (and Lammon's, and Toby's) cried out, clear as a bell. That was right- light was her element. She could not stand to see it used this way. She felt more than defensive of her allies (her friends)- she felt _personally offended_.  
>"<strong>Radiant Lance<strong>!" she yelled, throwing her staff like a spear. It sailed through the air and began to glow; it passed, unharmed, through the pillars of light between it and Genesimon.

Genesimon began to screech again, mechanical and distorted, and like a switch had been flipped, the pillars of light disappeared.

"You will not," Genesimon hissed as its body corrupted and froze again. As it continued to speak, its body began to visibly distort, even though it was not suffering the effects of an attack; every time it glitched, it seemed that the hollow around them followed suit. "You will not, you will not, you will _not_! This world will _burn._ You will _suffer_! I am a _god_!"

* * *

><p>When Era had stepped backwards, had run away through and into Yggdrasil, he had left a mindless creation with one operative - absorb, overtake, and destroy Yggdrasil - with no controller.<p>

He had not expected that this form would happen- this collapsed, super-dense Genesimon.  
>He was willing to <em>take it<em>, of course; he would be a fool to do otherwise. It just needed to do the one prime directive, but he didn't want to be around for the fallout; he didn't know what would happen, how badly it would break down.  
>Yes; Era expected his magnum opus to self-destruct. It was made to do one thing, and then destroy itself. (He hardly wanted to deal with a super-powered abomination with the power of the idiot gods; even without a mind of its own, it was dangerous, and more importantly, it was a <em>digimon<em>.)  
>He had planned so much of this ahead of time; he though the had everything planned out. Even if it didn't strictly <em>succeed<em>, the freak brats had no chance; it just needed to stall until the densely-packed power destroyed it, as it inevitably would, and that would be enough to take Yggdrasil down with it. If it was due to happen in its perfect form, it was _sure_ to happen now.

But the spanner in the works here was when Era tried to run away.

He had _not_ expected was for Genesimon to do... exactly what it was supposed to.

It had attempted to absorb Yggdrasil.  
>While Era, himself, was moving through it.<p>

Ergo...

Oh, he _hated_.  
>He hated more purely than he had hated anything before- and that was quite a feat. Of course, it was nothing he couldn't come away from with clean hands. He was still far better, far <em>cleaner<em> than the freak brats. After all, he had never merged with filth of his own volition.  
>But they had still dirtied him. They had <em>made<em> him run away, they had ruined the _plan_. It would have gone so much smoother had they just _laid down and died_.

And yet, Genesimon... well. It didn't have a mind of its own, so that was no problem; he was not competing with its will or anything of the sort. However, the tremendous power coursing through it was fogging his mind. It was overwhelming- more than overwhelming, it was like it was eating away at him.

But it was nothing he couldn't come away from. He just had to take care of this quickly.

* * *

><p>"I don't know about any of you, but this thing is starting to get on my nerves," Rocmon muttered, picking up into the air once more. Genesimon was still ranting before them, its body shifting and distorting; and every time it did, the world around them continued to do the same.<p>

"Then let's end this while we still can," Kisekimon said with a nod; he looked around. It was almost unrecognizable; no Sovereigns coiled around and encircling the tree, for there were not sovereigns anymore to be there. It was corrupt and tearing apart, like something huge had dragged its claws through the fabric of space itself. It was accelerating; Genesimon's rage was beginning to pull at the threads.

Most worrying of all, they were starting to see lightning-quick flashes of something beyond this world- people. Human people, human buildings.  
>Not only was the digital world beginning to break down, but so was the barrier. They were about to be pulled together.<p>

They had to make their move. Unless they ended this hundred-year war, here and now, they risked losing everything.

"All out!" Kisekimon barked, then, and once again, all three of his voices reached the hearts of his allies.

"Yes, sir," ImperialBaghamon replied wryly, and anything further he or anyone might have said was quickly drowned out.

"**Electro Break**!" Galeomon bellowed, gathering electrical energy in her hands. She gathered it until it was larger than ever before, until it seemed that if she held onto her attack any longer, she risked electrocuting herself more than any enemy. The lightning sphere sailed smoothly through the air, crashing into Genesimon and engulfing its white form for just a second.

Genesimon screamed with pain and rage, and in a heartbeat, was in front of Galeomon. "**Touch of the Divine**!" it hissed, and instantly its tentacles spread out and gripped around Galeomon. Due to their size difference, it was only able to grip around her face, but that was enough. It began to surge with energy; with tentacles wrapped around her head, all but wiring her jaw shut, the shark was not able to cry out. She would writhe and try to escape, but the energy from attack was paralyzing the rest of her body.

"You will not _touch her_!" WarTriassimon roared, almost feral, rushing forward with spear in hand. "**Armor Breaker**!" He leapt forward with his spear, jumping high enough to reach Genesimon bringing it downward on the beast (for no matter how human-like it looked, it was a beast).  
>Genesimon did not move out of the way this time. The spear hit its mark true, smashing straight into the pulsating sphere in its chest. It made no mark, and in fact WarTriassimon felt his entire body shake with the rebounded energy, but whether it made a physical mark or not, Genesimon was <em>not pleased<em>.

It screamed, mechanical grinding mixed with its twin voices. It immediately let Galeomon go, its tentacles retracting as though by reflex. Its body surged even harder than before; the space around it followed suit.

"Thank you, yeom," Galeomon growled sidelong, a bit pained but defiant. Her body distorted for a moment as she straightened herself up. WarTriassimon nodded once.

Above, Genesimon's body began to flare out again. "**Heaven's**-!"

"Not this time!" ImperialBaghamon snarled, the moment he saw the attack being telegraphed, and his sabers appeared in his hands once more. "**Imperial Saber**!" he roared, slicing all four arms down. This released four arcs of fire, which soared at Genesimon blindingly quick, and hit it squarely- interrupting its attack before it could begin.

Had they been able to look closely at Genesimon, they would see that something was starting to crack. It was not the sphere in its chest; that beat on defiantly, sending cracks instead through its bearer's chest. No, that was as close to normal as they would get- but now, there was a pair of hair-thin cracks running down its golden mask. It began to hiss: "No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. You will not. You will not. You will not."

Quetzacoatimon hissed low, her eyes narrowing. The plumes on her head were all but flattened down, like an angry cat's ears. Call her contradictory, but if Genesimon was going to say they would not... "**Brilliant Hunter**!" she roared, flapping her wings and releasing a rain of razor-sharp, paradoxically-bright dark energy.

Rocmon took her cue, and lifted up into the air, himself, almost exactly opposite the serpent, on the other side of Genesimon. "**Heaven Strike**!" he cawed, rising high into the air before swooping down with glowing claws. He did not pick up Genesimon (he did not want to see what would happen if he tried), but not even a moment after the rain of Quetzacoatimon's attack ceased, Genesimon was struck hard by the claws of the giant bird.

It screeched, loud and long, body distorting, but by the time it was able to move again, yet another of its foes was upon it.

MagnaAriamon soared expertly through the attacks of her allies, moving light as the air and dodging this way and that. Her body began to glow with bright light; though Genesimon, too, was white, her light was softer, less harsh. Once her light had engulfed her, she cried out: "**Cleansing Light**!"  
>She surged forward at high speed, leaving a faint streak of light in her wake. Her body was incorporeal as she passed through Genesimon, and the light seeped from her and into the beast. For a moment when she emerged on the other side, her body was glitched heavily, but she returned to normal within a second.<p>

The same could not be said of Genesimon, who froze and screeched like a corrupted sound-file once more. The cracks in its mask were growing, to the point that they were visible to the onlooker.

In addition to seeing the cracks, Kisekimon saw his chance. He rushed forward, scarf trailing behind him like a scarlet comet-tail. "**Double Blader**!" he yelled, crossing his swords in an X. He leapt into the air and sliced down and out with both swords.

For the first time, Genesimon suffered physical feedback from a strike. It fell like a bag of bricks, but it made no sound when it hit the ground- none of impact, at least. Oh, it screeched and hissed and uttered garbled words, quite loudly at that.  
>But all of those were interrupted by a deafeningly-loud:<p>

_Crack!_

As it hit the ground, Genesimon's golden mask split clean in two, cleft down the scored line that bifurcated it. It fell away as Genesimon straightened itself up again, and revealed its face.  
>Bandages were wrapped around most of the lower half; it lacked a nose or eyes that the warriors could see. Under a gap in the bandages was its mouth, filled with crooked teeth that poked over its torn lips. Much of its skin was snow-white, but unlike the rest of its body, it was mottled with bruises that were similar in colour to the skin of its previous forms, and thin cracks- much like the ones that surrounded the cores stuck in its body - spider-webbed across the surface.<p>

They realized quickly that they were wrong in assuming it had no eyes. From the middle of its forehead, a thin line split; directly under the carved eye on its golden mask had been an eye, of sorts. It opened sideways, much as the single eye of its previous form had; but when the eyelids opened, they revealed what seemed to be an empty socket. A tiny pinprick of red-purple light flared to life inside the socket, then- as close to a pupil as it was going to get.

Being completely honest: it was pretty darn freaky-looking.

"I will destroy," it hissed again, and slowly, it began to lift its hands away from its shoulders. It sounded like bones cracking as it lifted away, the orbs staying put embedded where they were in its hands, leaving craters in its shoulders, as though its body were rock instead of flesh. "You will beg, beg, beg, beg, beg, for a mercy that I will not grant." Its tentacles, flared out, and its twin leg-slash-tail tendrils uncurled from around each other. "This world will end in flames as it deserves, as it deserves, as it deserves."

It hissed low and long; the core in its chest was beating harder than ever. "It ends now. Now. Now. Now. Now."

Genesimon began to glow brighter. Behind it, the root-like core of Yggdrasil began to shake violently.  
>And then, it snapped in two.<p>

They saw the world around them distort; they caught flashes, more frequent, of the real world - human people reacting to flashes of things they didn't understand - and also of the digital world outside, Digimon screaming out and crying out and roaring and-

And rooting for them.

Genesimon was right. They had to-

"End it!" Kisekimon screamed to his teammates, all three of his voices frantic. He did not notice - none of them noticed- that the place over their hearts were beginning to glow brightly. "Now!"

They didn't need the instruction, of course. They threw themselves fully into their attacks, pouring all of the energy they had left into one last attack each.

"**God Fist**!" ImperialBaghamon roared, and once more, punching of all four fists into the air released a fiery aura. It crackled and flickered, and if they looked close, onlookers could almost see it take the shape of a tiger for just a moment as it lunged forward.

"**Shark Attack**!" Galeomon bellowed, rearing down and focusing; every last bit of power she had in her went into generating her attack. It paid off; a thousand shining sharks made of pure energy, thrashing and writhing, formed around her, almost filling the air. She roared, and as though that were the signal, they rushed at Genesimon, a feeding frenzy of incorporeal white sharks.

"**Fossil Storm**!" WarTriassimon roared aloud, smashing his spear point-first into the earth and concentrating all of his energy. What he created was not, this time, a small squadron of fossils- only one rose from the ground. It was a velociraptor made of bone and held together by otherworldly energy, and it wasted no time in rushing forward, bones rattling with every stride.

"**Biting Hailstorm**!" Rocmon keened one more time, rising high in the air and flapping his wings hard. Hail rained down, shining bright with refracted light, sharp and vicious as a rain of knives, sending a spray of razor-sharp ice into the maelstrom. He did not stop at one barrage; he contnued, sending wave after wave of ice.

"**Shining Break**!" MagnaAriamon cried, tracing a circle in the air with the shining tip of her staff. Once more, it created a disc of light, which shone bright and released a powerful beam of pure energy. It shone so brightly it was almost blinding; the sheep spent all of her effort into maintaining it, and almost shook with the effort.

"**Spectrail Tail**!" Quetzacoatimon roared, one last swan-song attack. Energy began to gather in her tail-tip; she moved like it was heavy, as she gathered more energy. Finally, she swiped her long body through the air, releasing a titanic blade of rainbow-hued dark energy, aimed square at Genseimon.

"**Nova Blade**!" Kisekimon yelled, one sword glowing bright. Once more, he lobbed it like a spear, not wanting to draw too close to the maelstrom of attacks that was gathering near Genesimon.

This happened within the space of seconds; though the attacks were independent, they seemed to merge when they struck Genesimon. For a moment, it was surrounded by a swirling mass- fire and ice, earth and electricity, light and dark, all at once. It was a horrible noise they heard, Genesimon's scream of pain.  
>And then Kisekimon's sword struck its target true; it impaled Genesimon straight through the core in its chest, sliding clean through and out of it back. The blade sunk in to the hilt; at the end, the black tassel at its pommel hung, swaying silently.<p>

Having thrown all of themselves into their final attacks, the warriors could feel their bodies growing weak- feeling a light begin to engulf them, the sign that they could no longer maintain their Mega levels; but they held resolute, refusing to stop until they saw their work be done.

Genesimon did not scream.  
>It made no noise at all.<p>

Genesimon took the attack, and for a moment alone, it hung suspended in the air. The core in its heart began to pulse, but they could see- even from where they stood - that it had been all but completely covered by white cracks, and every throb was only serving to break it further. The warriors held their breaths. Could it be...?

It was.

In the blink of an eye, the black sphere _shattered_. It broke into a thousand pieces, scattering and falling to the ground like glass. In turn, every other orb in its body - those that had been dull and lifeless - began to break in kind, sudden and instantaneous.  
>Kiseimon's sword clattered to the ground; when it hit, the blade snapped clean in half.<p>

One by one, almost as though spurred by this event, the seven mega digimon began to split apart. They could no longer maintain these forms, each warrior swiftly separating into a child-level digimon and a child. They were tired, they were ragged. They breathed heavily; they felt like their bodies were made of lead and then some. They couldn't have maintained their mega forms had they even wanted to.

But they had _won_.

It was over; all there was left to do was watch.

Without the cores to bind it together, Genesimon was falling apart. It floated just above the kids and their partners; data began to rush out of its body, swirling around it. There was, in conservative terms, an unbelievable of data being released; but with the core of Yggdrasil snapped in two, it didn't seem to know where to go. Instead, it merely began to coalesce around them, creating a titanic sphere around their battlefield- around the 'edges', so to speak, of the Hollow of Yggdrasil. It rushed and swirled as it poured out of Genesimon's body, creating a kernel sphere in the absence of a tree to gather around.

It rushed fast and hard, and before long, it was abundantly clear that Genesimon's body was about to be no more.  
>Without warning, a dark, remarkably-human-like shape dropped out of Genesimon as the last vestiges of the angel-like abomination flickered out- as did the last vestiges of Era's hundred-year rule.<p>

It didn't matter that they still had one final challenge to overcome. It didn't matter that right now, almost every part of this world was going to need to be re-built. It didn't matter that Yggdrasil was corrupt and in shambles, for seven pure fragments lived on in the hearts of seven little digimon, and that alone kept this world intact (even if it was hurting). It didn't matter that these little digimon would need to die to plant the seeds of Yggdrasil, to heal the tree and their world.

It didn't matter, because for the first time in a long time, the digital world was free. For the moment - just this one moment - that was all that really mattered.


	51. Chapter 51: Where We Belong

_a/n: i am going to cry  
>please read the ending author's note<em>

* * *

><p>"We did it," Simon said, and he sound dazed- like he didn't believe it, himself.<p>

"Yeah. We did," Egakumon said, looking up at his partner and smiling; Simon smiled back. Each human knelt to the level of their partners. Some were more visibly overwhelmed than others; Emily and Kamomon had tears in their eyes, while Julian and Iguamon merely shared rare smiles, (and they _most definitely did not_, in any way, have misty eyes at all).

But before they had a chance to really settle into this, come to terms with it, a familiar voice rang in their heads. It caused them all to jump- both because it was, by its necessity, very loud and thought-dominating, and also because it was unexpected. (Why, it hadn't even been a day- from their perspective, at least - since they had last heard it; why did it seem so nostalgic?)

_You have come far, Warriors._

The voice of the Sovereign of the Center was not _softer_ than before, not at all; but it was... gentler. There was an undeniable pride in her voice, and they - human and digimon alike - couldn't help themselves from puffing up a little bit at that.

_We have yet to regain our forms; much work will need to be done,_ she continued. _But your defeat of the heretic's creation has freed our data once more. I speak now for all of us: we are grateful to you, Warriors. You have saved us, and protected our world from destruction. Your journey will go down in legend._

Above them, they could just barely make out the tremendous, misted shadow of Huanglongmon's form- pale, barely perceptible, but there- and she was beaming down at them. They looked around; they could just barely make out other shapes, even less there than Huanglongmon. There were two familiar ones- Azulongmon and Zhuqiaomon - but two they hadn't seen personally, as well. A tremendous white tiger - Baihumon - and a two-headed tortoise, a titanic tree growing out of its shell - Ebonwumon. Each of them, all six heads of all five gods, had their heads bowed.

They listened close; they could hear cheering, cries, yells, from somewhere beyond- outside the hollow. These sounds melted together into a roar- the voices of digimon from all walks of life, every corner of the Digital World.

To say it was _humbling_ was an understatement.

But even through that, there _was_ something that could snap their attention away.

"What are you doing?" Toby asked; it was not accusatory, or angry, or anything of the sort. It was a genuine question as, gingerly, Luke picked Sampamon up onto his shoulders and began to walk towards the crumpled dark shape that Genesimon had spit out.  
>They all had no doubt what it was, but that didn't mean there weren't questions.<p>

"I..." Luke frowned, looking over his shoulder; the words 'don't know' were left unsaid. Sampamon coiled a bit tighter around her partner's shoulders, something approximating a hug. When Luke looked sidelong to her, she nodded once and closed her eyes.  
>He couldn't put it to words. Oh, he hated Era as much as any of them; he truly did, from the bottom of his heart, every fiber of him <em>hated<em> the man that lay before them.

But even so, he walked forward. He did not notice that, carefully, quietly, the others were following him. Luke half-knelt beside Era (was he even Era anymore?), crumpled on the ground, to get a better look at him.

The man was a sorry sight. He lay there, limp as a rag-doll. His clothes were torn; his skin was a sickly pale. Dried blood matted in his hair; his chest heaved and fluttered with effort. His eyes were squeezed closed behind broken glasses. Fresh blood stained the front of his shirt, much the same place where the core in Genesimon's chest had rested- where Kisekimon's sword had impaled the monster.  
>And, apparently, had impaled Era himself - to some degree -, Luke realized with a sick feeling in his stomach. Of course, being part of the digimon at that time, and not actually fully the one attacked afforded him a lot; had he suffered the impalement that Genesimon had suffered, he would be several times dead. Instead, he merely seemed to have echoes of the wound, much shallower, much more survivable.<br>And still incredibly nasty.  
>"Are you okay?" Luke asked quietly. The boy hovered, prepared to jump backwards at the slightest sign of danger. He did in fact take a half-step back when Era's eyes snapped open.<p>

"Don't you _dare_ touch me," the man hissed, his eyes flashing. They contained disgust and rage and _pain_ beyond imagining- but more than anything, pure, unfiltered hate. Contempt.

Luke looked down at the man before him- Era, Joshua, whoever he was. He wasn't going to pry where he wasn't wanted. He slowly stood up. After everything that Era had done to them, to _him_, and Luke had still tried. He shook lightly, having to bite his tongue to keep from speaking.

"You tried," Julian said quietly, stepping forward and - slightly awkwardly - placing a hand on his teammate's (his friend's) shoulder, not quite sure if he was doing the consoling thing right. Luke did not jump, but had not noticed that his friends had followed.

"Some people just don't want to be helped," Andrea said from behind, shrugging one shoulder. Luke turned, and looked to the others.

Each of them was... well, honestly, they were a sorry sight, not that much better off than Era himself. Whether human or digimon, they were pale and bruised and tired, their eyes tired. They had cuts and scrapes; blood was drying on their clothes, their fur, their hair. But unlike Era, they carried with them an air of... of warriors, of victors, of people (and creatures) who had fought long and hard and had finally seen their efforts work out.

A short, solemn silence followed.

"What will happen to him?" Toby said quietly, looking from Era up to the faint Huanglongmon above them.

The great sovereign paused, looking down at those below her; the silence was heavy, and for all the roar of the data around them, it felt achingly quiet. Was she conversing with the other sovereigns?

_Our grievances with him are many,_ the dragon said, slow. _As are yours. But he is of your world._  
>He was, then- from the same real world as the children. He had contacted a different digital world, but he was... well. They could not help but note that Huanglongmon said <em>your<em> world- not the humans', not the childrens' world. She knew, as much as they did in their hearts, that the seven digimon had adopted that world as their own just as readily as the children had adopted this one, simply by virtue of their partnerships.  
><em>As such, we will allow you to decide what will be done.<em>

At that time, they heard a croaking, gasping snarl. Digimon and human alike turned their heads to see Era forcing himself to a sitting position. He was breathing heavy and ragged. His chest heaved with effort; a trickle of blood ran down his chin from the corner of his mouth.  
>"You do <em>not dare<em>," he hissed, correctly anticipating the pity that was forthcoming. Flinching from the pain of moving, he spat out a bit of blood.

He looked as though he were already dying. Andrea's words from mere moments ago rang in their heads- some people just don't want to be helped.

But could they really, in good conscience, kill him? He was... one of their own, in a sick and twisted way. It wasn't that he was human; that alone was hardly enough to give him worth, especially considering how many digimon had suffered, had died, at his hands. The pain he had put them and, more importantly, this world in; the risk he had posed to this world.  
>But he hadn't changed, had he?<br>He was bitter and angry and alone. Thanks to his own actions, he destroyed everything he had.

He was despicable, he was _irredeemable_, they knew- and for that, he had their pity, whether he wanted it or not.

"I would rather you kill me," Era hissed, rage bubbling in his mind when he saw that emotion on the faces of the children, of the digimon that allied themselves with them.

"Isn't that reason enough not to?" Rajamon said dryly, obviously meant to be heard by Era, even as he was looking up at Andrea. But even so, the tiger wasn't entirely serious.

"We can't let him die," Luke said quietly, brushing his hair out of his eyes. He looked, though not overtly, at the wound in Joshua's chest, then around him. "His blood would be on our hands."  
>One by one, each nodded- Digimon and human alike. The digimon knew, just as well as their partners; while a human life held no more particular worth than a digimon's, and there was unbelievable blood on Era's hands, almost all of the digimon he had taken could be reborn and made new. Humans could not.<p>

"So you're cowards _and_ scum," Era snarled, a wild look in his eye.

"We are not," Iguamon said, quiet and laconic but with no trace of doubt in his voice.

Sampamon nodded once; her eyes closed, she did not look to Era. "We're simply not like you."

"We want to heal him," Simon said, decisively, speaking for the group as he looked up at the misted shape of Huanglongmon. "Is that possible?"

The great golden dragon squinted her eyes, and hesitated; when she spoke, her voice was doubting in tone. _It is; though your choice confuses me, Warriors. However, we are indebted to you. We shall do as you wish, only insofar as it pertains to this. Though mind this; he is of your real world, not of data. We cannot simply bathe him in Yggdrasil and heal his wounds; but we will do what we can to improve his chances of survival._

"I refuse!" Era croaked, shaking with rage and almost on the verge of _frantic_- and he was instantly shut down.

_**SILENCE**__!_  
>Huanglongmon roared the one-word command, her voice within their minds so loud it almost felt as though it made the earth shake, despite that being a physical impossibility.<br>_You are being granted mercy by both warriors and gods who have ample reason to withhold it from you. You are in no place to speak, heretic._

Immediately, and for the first time, they saw something change in Era. They saw fear flash in his eyes; they saw him tremble. He was no longer Lord Era, the ruthless (fallen) tyrant, the god-like man on the road to destroying two worlds to sate his misguided thirst for vengeance. When he shook, the lord Era was gone for once and for all.

In his place, for the first time in ten or a hundred years, sat Joshua Amsel- harshed and hardened and tired by his spirit living a hundred years while his body aged only ten. They knew, just as he knew: he was no longer a king, no longer even the most cursory of threats. He had failed. He was a broken, bitter man, and nothing more.

Slowly - much more carefully, more delicately, than Genesimon had ever done - the children and digimon could only watch as a thin stream of data shifted and moved, carefully and gingerly encircling Joshua, who did not protest. He merely leaned forward on his hands, looking as though he might throw up.  
>While it would be hard to say it left him as good as new, the bleeding had been stunted, some of the flesh pulled together. It certainly brought to mind a cliche: it was sure as <em>heck<em> going to leave a scar.

"I do not need," Joshua croaked; moving, speaking, still hurt, but he was desperately trying to save face, "nor do I want, your-"

"Save your breath, yo," Faris muttered, shaking his head.

_Now that that is done,_ Huanglongmon said, _what is to be done with him? We will not have him stay in our world._

"As well we shouldn't," Egakumon said, frowning and tapping his snout with one claw.

"He'll come back to ours," Emily said, looking up. "I mean... we can't risk a repeat of what happened last time he got kicked out of a digital world, you know?"

Andrea nodded once as a murmur of assent rippled through the group; Joshua spat out blood in contempt. "He'll be confined to the real world. Our real world," she amended quickly. "I don't know where he lived. I don't really care, being honest. But I'd rather he be in a world where someone knows what kind of crap he tried to pull."

_Then so it shall be,_ Huanglongmon growled low, her ephemeral shape above nodding her head. She moved, preparing to send Era through the tree, but something else demanded attention quite suddenly, in quite a subtle way.

To the children and the digimon, it was hard to say whether what happened next was coincidence, or fate, or simply a bit of (well-deserved) cruelty on the Sovereigns' part. It was none; it was deliberate, it was independent action, and even the sovereigns were surprised to see it. It was like a ghost of a ghost, remnants of a code- a code that had resided in Genesimon, integral to its core and released when the data stored within the beast was.

Just as unclear and misty as Huanglongmon and her fellow sovereigns, a small shape appeared. It stepped forward, out of the shadows, not making a single sound. It didn't quite seem to fit in- it was just as shadowy, just as unclear, as the visions the team had seen when the lines between the worlds were blurring.  
>It was small, and fuzzy- both in terms of its foggy, barely-there appearance, and also because it appeared to wear a thick fur draped over its shoulders. It was a small, wingless dragon, with a long mane and little black horns. And though its body was white, adorned with green markings, the colour that was most apparent was very, very blue.<p>

It said nothing, merely looked at Joshua. The man turned slowly when he realized that everyone present was looking behind him, and he froze.

"Lazu-" Joshua croaked, barely above a whisper; he did not finish the name. Almost instinctively, he reached out slowly with one hand, attempted to touch or hold onto an outstretched claw in some long-gone memory of an action.

The little incorporeal dragon took a step back and shook its head 'no'. Without a single word, it seemed to say so much, a thousand complicated emotions. Its face was hard to make out, but it was smiling in a sad and solemn way, bitter and nostalgic and lost in memory.  
><em>You threw this away long ago, Joshua,<em> it seemed to say without words. _You cannot take it back now._  
>It seemed to be torn, like it didn't want to be doing this, but knew that it had to be done.<p>

Joshua's hand fell slowly, and he fell entirely silent. His head fell, his eyes staring down, unfocused. When he was no longer looking, the little dragon looked to the team of warriors. It bowed its head, smiled again, and was gone like a candle blown out by the wind.

The partners, watching, felt it was not their place to comment. They knew what they had just seen; even when it was their enemy, a man with the blood of thousands to account for, they knew they had just seen a digimon bid a final goodbye to his human.  
>They felt a pang in their heart when they remembered what lay ahead of them, even if the circumstances would be different.<p>

Huanglongmon did not speak for a full minute. Nobody spoke a single word during that time, until the golden dragon broke the silence.

_As much as I know you would appreciate further answers... but time is limited, and I know that there are things you wish to do. This is hardly the place to... deal with the affairs that must be dealt with,_ the Sovereign said carefully, taking care not to mention what the kids and digimon alike were dreading.  
><em>I would like to send you somewhere more comfortable. Should it suit you, of course.<em>

They knew.  
>They knew they had to say goodbye.<br>... so soon.

It was hard to face.

_It is dawn._ It had been almost full day since they had first entered Yggdrasil's hollow, then. _You will have until sunset._

And with those words, a warm white light began to engulf them, as a team, for the last time. They could see, before them, Joshua Amsel did not move, nor was he moved; there he would remain until their return later that day.

* * *

><p>It was like deja vu- it was so surreal, some of the kids almost believed for a split second that they had been dreaming. They found themselves lying on the hard ground, staring up at a crystal-clear sky; the moons were setting on the horizon, and the first rays of sunlight were starting to peak over the trees. Above them, streams of data surged across the sky.<br>They could never forget this sight, no matter how many things they had seen.

They were laying on the ground a few hundred feet from Deekamon's hut. The place they had awoken so long ago, the first time. Behind them was a hill, leading up to a cliff; all around was thick foliage. It was cool and clear, morning dew still clinging to the leaves. It was exactly as it had been, except it was dawn instead of evening.

"Oh my god," Emily whispered, sitting up slowly. She shivered, both with cold and with emotion. She looked around herself as the other six children sat up- and their digimon partners did the same.

"I never thought I'd be here again," Rajamon said quietly, looking around slowly. It looked like... like nothing had changed. Like it was still exactly the same it had been when they set out on this journey.

"I take it you've been here before?" Luke said, sitting up. He looked to his side, to Sampamon, as though confirming that she were still there.

"This is where we woke up when we came here," Toby said, quiet, almost doubting.

Simon almost let loose a _don't you remember?_ before he stopped himself. That was right; Luke hadn't arrived with the rest of them. It was weird to think; he had become such an ingrained part of the team, it was hard to remember a time without him.

Slowly, they started to get to their feet.

They had a lot to do, and not enough time in the world to do it right.

* * *

><p>Simon sighed heavily, leaning back. He and Egakumon had pulled themselves up into a tree- not just any tree, but the tree they had (theoretically) been sleeping on that very first night, before they wandered off.<br>Before Egakumon had digivolved the very first time.

Simon and Egakumon had checked Deekamon's hut not long before now; it was empty and barren, and, just like the woods around them, looked exactly like it had when they had departed it. Had Deekamon been back at all?  
>Was Deekamon okay? They didn't know how he had fared in the fight in the Timeless River...<p>

It was a bit corny to say, but it almost felt like this place, not the river, was the one that was timeless and unchanging.

"You know what?" Egakumon said, looking over at his partner. The boy looked over, and tilted his head; the rabbit smiled. "I think we did a good job."

Simon smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah. We did, bro. We did an amazing job. But do you know what?" he said, and Egakumon furrowed his brow. "I still can't believe a little rabbit with a paintbrush could be so cool."  
>He had said it back then- <em>why a paintbrush?<em>. He still remembered that.

He knew now. That paintbrush was a sword, it was used to create and destroy and protect. He couldn't laugh at it anymore; he had seen what a paintbrush could do.

But he had to laugh anyway. He laughed, hearty and loud, and he didn't quite know why. Because he was happy, sad, angry, scared. Because he just had too many emotions in his head, and he wasn't used to feeling so conflicted.  
>Egakumon was confused for a moment, but before long at all, he found himself laughing too. He felt too many things that sat far too heavy in his chest; this was the only way either could think to take care of them.<p>

"This isn't fair," Simon said, and as he stopped laughing it was clear that there were tears in his eyes. "How am I ever gonna find another friend like you?"

"I gotta tell you, I donno. It'll definitely be hard to find anyone as cool as me," Egakumon said- wiping away one big shining tear with one big blunt claw.

"You know what the really dumb thing is, though?" Simon said, and Egakumon tilted his head, but said nothing, waiting for his partner to speak at his own pace. Simon looked at his hands as he began to speak again. "I've told you this. I was kind of a loser kid. I always, well, wanted a friend who'd help me stand up for what was right. Who'd stick by me no matter what." He paused, looking up from his hands to look at the rabbit. "I guess I got it, you know?"

Egakumon tried very, very hard to suppress the fact that his eyes were tearing up. He failed. _Spectacularly._ "I waited my whole life for you," he said, choking a bit, voice growing thick with the years. "I know what that's like."

Simon looked at the rabbit, and smiled slowly as an idea struck him like lightning. "Hey," he said, digging into his pocket. "Here."  
>Egakumon looked bewildered for a moment, but after a second, he found that everything was very dark.<p>

Simon had pulled his signature beanie hat out of his pocket. It had been wadded up in his pocket all this time- and now it was sitting on Egakumon's head, draped over his eyes. He pushed it up with the butt end of his paintbrush, and couldn't help but grin a big goofy grin.  
>"I don't think I'm gonna be able to wear it anymore," Simon said, rubbing the back of his head. "And... you know. I think you should have it."<p>

Egakumon shifted on the branch, and carefully inched closer to Simon. Without warning, he threw his paintbrush to the ground below and slung his big blunt-clawed arms around Simon's neck, and embraced his partner tightly. Simon wasted no time in embracing the rabbit right back.

"I'll miss you, Egakumon," Simon said, ignoring the fact that he was getting a mouthful of fur from his partner's neck-ruff. It was okay; he was crying full-on now. He was had been one to hide his emotions.

"It's been an honor," Egakumon said as he pulled away, and he had a big, if sad, grin on his face and no shortage of tears in his eyes.

Simon smiled.

* * *

><p>Andrea and Rajamon sat just outside of Deekamon's hut. After Andrea had poked a bit at the ashes of a long-ago-extinguished fire, Rajamon had taken it upon himself to spark some embers up, and before long - with a little bit of gathered wood - they had a little fire burning away, helping to warm them in the slightly-chilly morning.<p>

Now, the girl was staring into the heart of the fire; she sat in the dust, knees pulled to her chest with one arm. Rajamon lay astride her, his head resting on his paws.

"We've come a long way, haven't we?" Andrea said quietly, after a long quiet, not looking at Rajamon. They could hear the faint sound of the others talking around them, but she paid them no heed. They wanted their privacy, just as she wanted hers. "It feels weird to be back here."

Rajamon looked up at his partner, and a frown tugged at the sides of his mouth. He could see tears gathering in her eyes; he knew she was trying to make small talk to try and distract herself. He reached out with one paw, and put it over Andrea's hand that wasn't occupied with holding her knees.

"Being brave doesn't mean you have to hide your emotions, or pretend you're not feeling them, you know," Rajamon said quietly; Andrea smiled thinly and hung her head. Aided by gravity, a single teardrop fell onto her knees- and was quickly joined by more.

"I know," she said, releasing her legs and wiping her eyes. "But come on."

Rajamon smiled sadly, and nodded his head. "It's hard. I know. I'm scared, too." He sounded like he was choking on the words- like they didn't want to come out- but he forced them to come out anyway.

"I thought you weren't scared of anything," Andrea taunted, giving a sad smile of her own and sticking her tongue out.

"Hey! I've been scared a lot," the tiger said defiantly, sticking his tongue out right back. "I've been afraid that we wouldn't win." He paused; if his face wasn't covered in fur, a deep-scarlet blush would have been making his cheeks glow. "I've been afraid that I'd lose you."

Andrea couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes, but of course, she tried to hide it. "Oh, knock it off with the mushy stuff," she said, but her tough tone was dropped in a heartbeat. "You're gonna make me cry." Rajamon grinned lopsidedly- if a bit sheepishly.  
>Andrea wiped away her tears, sniffling just a bit. "But no, that's not even fair. You don't get to pull that on me, not when I'm about to..." What she meant to say was <em>lose you, too<em>, but she couldn't force the words out of her mouth. She balled her hands up into fists, breathing out through her nose. She looked to Rajamon, who looked up at her in turn.

"I always wanted a friend like you," she said after a moment. That _had_ been it, hadn't it? She didn't know how or why, but... that had been it. A friend who was strong, who helped her be the same; who stayed strong when she wasn't, and who she could be strong for in return.  
>After her mom had died, she had tried- she had been tough, she had pushed down her emotions, she had been loud and abrasive and mean. She knew now, that was all a front- trying to fake it only led to disaster. It explained a lot.<p>

Man, some cosmic force had a really sick sense of humor.

Rajamon paused, and then nudged his head into Andrea's side. He slid and wriggled his way onto her lap; she didn't mind that he was heavy. He nestled his furry head under her chin, and placed one paw over her chest. "You'll be okay, Andrea. I know. I already told you- you're as much of a lion-heart as I am. Maybe more."  
>He sounded a bit odd, talking heart-to-heart like this, but the sincerity in his voice more than made up for any awkwardness.<p>

Andrea smiled, and pulled the tiger against her in a hug. She knew he was right. She had been afraid before, but Rajamon... he was trying to give her his courage, one last time. "Thank you, Rajamon. For everything."

Rajamon smiled, and tried to blink back the tears in his eyes to no avail.

* * *

><p>Julian and Iguamon had taken off up the hill; they sat on the lip of the small cliff near Deekamon's hut, looking out over the forest. They had changed so much, and this place hadn't. But no- it had. Era was gone. This world was finally free. That was a pretty big change. But that was a double-edged sword- now this world didn't need them.<p>

That was kind of hard to accept.

Julian's legs dangled off the cliff into the open air; Iguamon, having much shorter legs, was not really able to do the same.

"I feel like everything has changed," Julian said quietly, threading his fingers. His head was bowed, his eyes cast down. "Since we got here. Since we left Deekamon's hut."

"Not _everything_," Iguamon said, looking sidelong to his partner, but Julian only shook his head.

"I'm learning that change is a good thing, though. ... being accurate, I've learned." He paused, and smiled dryly. "If I hadn't learned that by now, I'd be a bit worried. But... no. I always resisted it. I've learned a lot here."

"It can be both a good thing," Iguamon said quietly, "and a bad thing."  
>Julian looked over at him; the dinosaur's eyes were downcast just as his had been, looking down at the trees, the rivers that cut across the scenery, the hills that he had known so well. It was clear what he meant when he said what he did.<p>

"... I'm really going to miss you, you know," Julian said, barely above a whisper. "For the rest of my life." Iguamon said nothing, but looked to his partner, and quirked his head just so. A sad half-smile pulled at the side of Julian's mouth. "It's true. I do have emotions."  
>The way he, somewhat sheepishly, wiped at his eyes with the back of one gloved hand was hard evidence for that claim. "But I never would have believed it if somebody had told me that my life would be changed by a talking dinosaur. That's just illogical."<p>

Iguamon cracked a rare smile. "It's weird how things work out, isn't it?"

"You have no idea," Julian said, twiddling his thumbs and breathing out heavily.  
>He had been the first to figure out that they all had the fountain in common; who could have guessed that that little thing would be enough to change their lives forever?<p>

He had wanted someone - a friend, he corrected himself, insulted at himself that even now he seemed to flinch from the word - to help him accept what he could not change; he wanted someone who understood him.

That was why they were chosen, he knew - well, guessed rather than knew, but regardless. To help them bind with their partners, no doubt; children with strong hearts, powerful virtues, but something missing. And... the fountain. Where Yggdrasil touched their world; that was how they knew, how they chose them, right?

It made sense.

But the intellectual part of him was one thing; the emotional part was something else entirely.  
>He wanted to say a thousand things, thank Iguamon, scream at the top of his lungs- maybe even cry a little bit. Or a lot of a bit.<p>

Julian shifted uncomfortably; he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do. In contrast to his usual stoic demeanor, he quite blatantly telegraphed this fact; he wanted to say something, but couldn't find it, and the energy turned from unstated words to nervous energy.

"Julian?" Iguamon said quietly, frowning slightly. His words cut through his partner's reverie, but he did not respond. Iguamon lowered his eyes and - a bit awkwardly - placed one of his claw-gloved hands over his partner's. Julian turned his head at that, looked from the clawed hand to the digimon that owned it. He turned his body to face Iguamon; the dinosaur followed suit.

It seemed that this time, they couldn't say all they wanted by just exchanging a look. Without warning, Julian threw himself forward, pulling the dinosaur digimon into a hug. This time, this goodbye was a final one; there was no going back, no visits, no keeping in touch.  
>"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to this," Julian mumbled.<p>

"What?" Iguamon said, and though his voice was dry his eyes were wet; his words were muffled by his snout being pressed into his partner's shoulder. "Saying goodbye, or showing emotions?"

It wasn't even that funny, but Julian's laugh echoed in the valley below them as the first traces of the sun, not just its rays, began to rise over the horizon.

* * *

><p>Not far from Deekamon's empty hut, a small stream - one of many - roamed through the forested landscape, cut into a small gulch.<br>It was almost painfully idyllic, like a painting, Faris couldn't help but note. He was sitting on a fallen log, a makeshift bridge over the gap; the boy's feet hung about two feet above the bubbling water, swaying idly. For her part, Delfinimon lay belly-down in the stream amongst the smooth pebbles, her face half-submerged. Both were uncharacteristically quiet; if they had any time to waste, they would have enjoyed the quiet and the calm, but instead, it hung over their heads like a smothering blanket.

_This sucks,_ was the mantra that was stuck on repeat in Faris' head. He was starting to shiver, the cooling effect of the water compounding with the chill of early morning, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. He looked down to his partner. Delfinimon couldn't hide it; there were tears, in abundance, in her eyes. To her credit, she wasn't even trying to hide it. She was simply allowing the water of the stream to wash the tears away.

Faris all but folded in on himself, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. The words were dying in his throat, as though out of protest- he felt, honestly, like an entitled brat, talking like this. In exchange for the words he lost, tears began to streak down his face, his body shaking lightly. He didn't want to go back home, back to living a thousand miles away from his brother, back to being another awkward loser resigned to cracking bad jokes to cover that fact up. Even if this place was dangerous, he'd still take it a thousand times over the real world.

Delfinimon lifted her head out of the water; Faris didn't seem to take note. It tore her up to see him like this, even when she was in no better state herself. Her mouth pulled back into a thin, determined expression. With one smooth motion, she pulled her body up and smacked her tail-fin down into the water, expertly angling it so as to splash water up at Faris.

"Wh-" Faris was shaken out of his half-trance by the water.  
>Delfinimon was looking up at him expectantly, her head cocked to the side.<p>

"It'll be okay," the dolphin said, even through a sniffle or three- and she cut off Faris before he could voice his retort. "And if it won't, then we'll _make_ it okay, yeom. Don't you get that yet, you big dummy?" Her voice was cracking; she was on the verge of a fresh wave of tears, herself, and her emotions were like a large-print open book.

It took a moment, but eventually Faris smiled, lopsided and sad, but genuine regardless.  
>Instead of answering, he pushed himself forwards and off of the log, landing in the water. Delfinimon threw up one of her flippers to protect her face from the splash; when she lowered it again, Faris had his arms akimbo, and despite his misty eyes, he had a definite air of (obviously feigned) cockiness.<br>"You started a splash-fight, but you didn't expect any return fire? Come on, tuna fish."

If anyone had stumbled upon them in the next five minutes, they would see a boy and a dolphin engaged in the splash-fight to end all splash fights- or at least give all other splash fights a run for their money. It was one of those things that, in the long run, was on the stupid side, but at that moment, it was all they were thinking about- and that was just what they needed to do.

The morning was chilled already, and the cold water only compounded this problem. Soaked to the bone and with the sun only now starting to peek over the trees, Faris was shivering something awful as he and Delfinimon both lay on the rocky stream-bank, staring up at the sky.

"If I get sick because of this," the boy said, affecting a carefree air with limited success, "I'm blaming you." He turned his head to look at Delfinimon; she was looking at him already, and beaming. Even so, there was a sadness that couldn't be explained, couldn't be put into words.

Faris sat up and pulled Delfinimon into his arms one more time, hugging her close. Even if it wasn't okay, they'd make it okay anyway, somehow.

* * *

><p>Simon and Egakumon weren't the only ones who found themselves seated in the trees.<br>Emily sat with her back against the trunk of the tree she was perched in, on the highest branch that could comfortably support her. Kamomon had taken wing above. The bird had known, instinctively, that she needed a bit of distance, a bit of space; but he was hesitant to upright walk away.  
>"Follow me," the bird had said, kicking off the ground and flapping hard. His partner had scrambled up into the tree where she now sat, eyes focused up on her partner.<p>

He was a bit graceless, a bit messy; Kamomon, in this form, was nowhere near as graceful as he was in higher levels, even with a far-more-maneuverable size. Emily didn't care. She watched every movement, every subtle shift of his feathers that he used to control himself, even if it was sloppy. His long tail-feathers streamed behind him like ribbons, deep blue against a powder-light morning sky.  
>With a pang in her heart and a weight in her stomach, she couldn't stop herself from thinking that she was never going to fly like that again- neither on Ospreymon's back nor as part of Rocmon.<p>

They had seen it through to the end; but that meant that there was an end. It was going to come to a close, and sooner rather than later. It felt like both mere days and a thousand years that they had been in this world; it had seemed to exist outside of time. Even when they knew what was coming, it had never felt like it was going to end- at least, not to her.  
>Maybe it had been denial.<p>

The girl lowered her head, cast her eyes down to the ground. She held onto her arms, hugging herself to keep herself from shaking as the years began to well up. It was all crashing down now, and it was too much.

She didn't notice, until she felt a hand on her shoulder, that Kamomon had landed on the branch on front of her, light and careful. She looked up. "Emily?" he said, his brow furrowed. When his partner said nothing, merely averted her eyes again, the bird frowned and bowed his head.  
>Instead of taking off again, he took a seat astride her.<p>

"Emily?" Kamomon said again after a moment, cutting through the quiet.  
>"I'm proud of us. I mean... us as a group. But also of us, as me and you." He talked fast, a bit flustered; he swung his legs to try and get some of the nervous energy out. "And whatever you do, I know it's gonna be great."<p>

Another brief silence followed; Emily shifted, and for a moment Kamomon feared he had said the wrong thing. He looked over; the girl still was still averting her eyes.  
>"It wouldn't be half as great if I hadn't met you," Emily said, lifting her head to look at Kamomon. She smiled a small, sad smile, wiping away tears with the back of her hand.<p>

"You won't forget me, then?" Kamomon said; under his feathers he was blushing bright.

And oh, those five words broke Emily's heart. How could she _ever_ forget? With Kamomon, she had fought, she had flown, she had believed in her own strength and abilities more than she ever could have alone.  
>"I'll remember you until the end," she promised, her voice breaking a little bit. "Of course I will. I'll remember everyone and everything. Especially you."<p>

Kamomon couldn't help his feathers from puffing up a bit, but they were squashed back down when he flung himself at Emily, throwing himself into a hug. She pulled him right back into it, smoothing her partner's feathers down.

What happened then was something Emily had never expected- Kamomon began to sing, albeit quietly. She didn't understand the words, as they sounded like no language she had ever even heard of, but it was smooth and flowing regardless, riding a gentle melody. Kamomon's voice, though it was a bit uneven from disuse (she didn't believe she had ever heard him sing), it was clear and, quite honestly, pretty.

Emily found herself compelled to sing along, though she didn't know the words, as she got the distinct feeling that Kamomon didn't, either.

* * *

><p>Some of the kids were a bit better at containing their emotions than others.<p>

Toby and Lammon barely moved from where they had awoken; the boy sat with his back against a fallen tree-trunk, his knees hugged to his chest. Tears ran freely down his face, but he did a fairly good job of muffling himself by burying his face in the overlarge hood gathered around his neck.  
>Lammon lay at his side. For a long time, she said nothing; she merely brought herself in close, laying her head down on her hooves.<p>

Her voice, when she spoke, was so quiet that it was easy to miss.  
>"We've come a long way," she said, her voice shaking a little bit.<p>

"Yeah," Toby said, words a bit choked. As he spoke, he wiped his red and puffy eyes with his sleeve. He wasn't the most dignified sight right now; he didn't care, and he knew that none of his friends would judge him for it even if they saw. But he didn't feel he had come far; through all these battles, everything they had gone through, he was here- where it all started, still afraid and crying and so unsure of where he was going from here.

Lammon sat up, then; she quirked her head at her partner. She hesitated, before she leaned forward, gently touching her partner's cheek with her nose. "You are so much stronger than you believe you are," she said, "and if anybody ever doubts you, remember that."

Toby pulled his knees closer to his chest. "I wouldn't be if not for you," he said.

Lammon paused, then shook her head. "I merely helped you find what was there already." She paused; she knew what Toby feared. "It will not go away once we are no longer together."

"How do you know that?" Toby mumbled, but he was calming down somewhat; he was sitting a bit straighter, relaxed his grip on his legs.

"I know it, because I know you," the sheep said, nodding once. "You will be okay. I did not give you any strength you didn't have; I merely helped you to find it, just as you helped me find mine."

Toby sniffled a bit, and relaxed somewhat. He shifted a bit, burying his face again in his hood. There was no denying that he was scared; he had been scared so many times, but they had always had each other's backs - he and Lammon, them and the rest of their team- their friends. They had his back, but he has theirs, too.  
>And that... that had been something he had never really had, had it? He had only experienced doubt, however well-intentioned. If anyone tried to tell him he couldn't stand up on his own, do things himself, contribute- he had fought to save their worlds. He had been instrumental in their victory, just as everyone else had been.<p>

Not that anyone would ever believe him.

He knew, somewhere deep (or maybe not so deep) down, that Lammon was right.

But that didn't mean he wanted to face the fact that soon, she was going to be gone. Tears began to gather in his eyes once more.

As if on cue, Lammon gingerly maneuvered herself so that her front half was lying across Toby's lap. The perfumed light smoke of her ponytail all but surrounded them with its gentle sweet scent. "You will be amazing," the sheep said then- indeed, a bit sheepishly. She looked up and smiled, small and faint. "And we'll always remain a part of you."

Toby looked down at her, and had to smile back. He surely couldn't stand to prove her wrong- even if he was a bit unsure, he couldn't let Lammon down. She believed he could; so he could.

The tears in his eyes still fell, but he knew in his heart he could believe what she said. If there was anyone he could trust, Toby knew it was her.

* * *

><p>Sampamon slithered her body across the forest floor, a streak of black liquid and flashes of colour in the underbrush. She was following her partner- he wasn't hard to keep a tab on, as he was moving rather inelegantly. Luke wasn't exactly <em>running<em>, but he was walking fast, crunching twigs and dried leaves under his feet and leaving an easy trail to follow. (_Easy_, at any rate, for someone whose face was quite near ground level.)

Sampamon had more than an inkling of what was wrong. She could see it in the way Luke walked, the tightness he carried in his shoulders, the way he kept his eyes focused dead ahead but was moving his body on auto-pilot.  
>And, of course, it was just a pinch of common sense.<p>

And so she followed him dilligently, not willing to let her partner go off on his own. She had the feeling he knew she was following, but understood that he was very much in his own world at the moment- he likely wouldn't be up to talk.

Sampamon noted to herself that she had been this way before, but she doubted if any of her allies had.

All at once, some ways down the path, Luke stopped. His body shook, but he stayed silent. As though something had knocked his legs out from under him, he fell to his knees right then and there and wrapped his arms around his head in an elegant tangle. Though he kept himself silent, his body was wracked with tremors, and it was plain for anyone to see that he was crying.

This was of course obvious most of all to Sampamon.

She said nothing; she merely slithered her way over, careful, quiet. Just as careful, just as quiet, she slithered her way up her partner's back, settling herself around his neck. She squeezed lightly at his shoulders in her imitation of a hug. Though it did not assuage his dismay, the shakes seemed to die down just slightly.

Sampamon could say many things; how they weren't going to be gone, not really, they were just going to be part of the great tree that connected their worlds; that in some sense, they would always be together; even that, to some degree, she understood. In a way, she understood the pain and the fear and not wanting to go back to from whence one came.

Though she could say a great many things, she didn't.

* * *

><p>They reconvened once the sun was higher in the sky. No formal plan had been made, but eventually, all of them found themselves gravitating back to Deekamon's hut. Rajamon and Andrea kept their campfire going; the others scouted for food, which they had little trouble amassing.<p>

The rest of their final day was both too fast, and terribly slow. It went by in a blur, their perceptions fogged by the metaphorical cloud that was looming overhead (despite the crystal-clear literal skies).

The kids exchanged information so they could get in contact with each other once they split the party. They talked, they ate, they told stories - some a bit more obviously fictionally-enhanced than others - and joked, they recounted battles. Through it all, they stayed close to one another- the partners with each other, and these pairs to the others. They had eachother. Despite the weights in their hearts, human and digimon alike, they willed themselves to be light one last time.

But when the sky began to fade from crystal-blue to a pale dusty pink and orange, that weight settled in their stomachs once more, and nothing could dispel it. They turned and watched- the sun was starting to sink below the horizon beyond the trees, beginning the descent into night. For a moment, they fell silent. For a moment, they almost hoped that it was a fluke, that something would turn in their favor- but it was not to be.

Perhaps they had expected to be taken back to Yggdrasil's hollow; but it was not to be. Standing and sitting here, beside Deekamon's hut, it would draw to an end.

"What's going on!?" Simon blurted as Egakumon was engulfed in a light like the light of digivolution- as were all of the digimon. They were as alarmed as their partners were, truth be told; they looked down at themselves, frantic.

"It's starting," Andrea said in barely above a whisper, shaking slightly.

The light engulfed their partners fully, and in a flash, where the seven child-level digimon had once stood, there were seven familiar little blobs- their Baby II forms. In a heartbeat, they found themselves scooped up into the arms of their human partners. The children hugged the little digimon tightly to their chests, all of them- now was no time to try and save face, look cool.

"It's okay," Efudemon squeaked up at Simon.

"This is what needs to happen," Cindemon said, nuzzling his head (and body) against Andrea.

"For all of us," Paleomon said, quietly; Julian only hugged him closer.

"Be good, okay, yeom?" Finmon said, sniffling in the least dignified way she could, bopping her snout against Faris's chest.

"It sounds silly, but a part of us will always be with you, you know," Mismon said; Emily smiled sadly, wiping away the tears that were gathering on the feathers near his eyes. Around him, as well as the other digimon, they were starting to glow again- about to shift down once more.

Fuwamon nuzzled her nose against Toby. "Remember what I said, okay?" she said; Toby sniffed and nodded, hugging her against him.

"We'll always be together," Plumon said; though it was barely above a whisper, she was speaking for and to all of them. She coiled herself around Luke's wrist so she could give him as close to a hug as she could before she was covered entirely by the light.

One more flash. Most of them had not seen their partners in so low a form, their Baby I forms; of course, there were Sinjmon, the tiny ball of red fluff, in Andrea's hands, and Gemon in Luke's arms, the ruby on her forehead staying a constant throughout all of her forms.  
>But in Simon's arms was Sketchmon, a tiny blue blob with shiny, coal-black eyes tiny, gel-like nubs in place of ears, and no other facial features to speak of. Emily clutched Downmon, whose blobby body was pale blue and yellow, but otherwise somewhat reminiscent of a newborn bird without feathers, complete with a protective blue-speckled yellow egg propped on his head (body). Faris took care in holding Babbumon, whose tiny body seemed to be comprised entirely of one big bubble, with squinted-closed eyes and three smaller bubbles running down her head-slash-body in a small ridge; Julian held Tokamon, whose plain little white body was decorated with a mess of green spikes, button-black eyes peering up at his partner. Gakumon was nuzzling herself down in Toby's sleeves, as she lacked any of her typical wool except for a single ball of fluff atop her little black body.<p>

The kids were silent, trying to find a way to sort out the words they carried in their chests- but they knew there simply wasn't enough time to sort them out, and instead, they came out as tears.

The digimon found themselves at just as much of a loss for words- most of them were too busy crying big blubbery tears to get any coherent words out, even the usually-reserved Tokamon and Gemon. Their partners held them close, as though maybe it might keep the digimon with them.

But try as they might, before long at all, the light began to overtake the little digimon.

It was hard to tell, really, who was the first to say, "I love you", but whoever it was, it began a chorus; human or digimon, they cried it, they repeated it like a mantra, as though to make up for the times before that they didn't or couldn't. They poured everything they could into those three words- their love, their gratitude, their fear and their hopes and their sorrow. It was all too much.

But soon, the words changed. As the digimon began to fade away, slowly, so slowly, the seven little digimon changed it.

"Thank you!"

They squeaked and mewed and chirped and made every other sort of noise, repeating those two words over and over and over- "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" - until their friends began to do the same.

"Thank you!" Simon said, and Andrea said, and Julian and Faris and Emily and Toby and Luke- they yelled it as their partners began to fade into light in their respective colours. "Thank you!" they said, as that light began to lift out of their hands. "Thank you!" they cried out as the orbs of light shot into the sky, leaving faint streaks behind them as they swirled around eachother into the too-quickly-darkening sky. Their D-GEARs were reacting too- they were glowing in their pockets. and a thin streak of light shot out of all seven. They followed the coloured light up into the sky, flickering like star-light; the kids watched, but they didn't stop. They didn't realize that in their pockets were once again simple cell phones, instead of digivices.

"Thank you!" they yelled, even as the tears streaked down their faces and their bodies shook.  
>They didn't care; they hollered and yelled and jumped, screaming those two words. They yelled because it hurt too much to be quiet. They didn't need to question if their friends could hear them or not.<br>They didn't have to question it; they knew they could.

So caught up were they that they didn't notice that they were beginning to glow themselves.

They didn't notice, and they didn't stop yelling, until it overtook each of the seven children, and everything went white, one last time.

* * *

><p>Moments later, seven children woke up in their bedrooms.<br>Seven children stood up and walked out of their rooms, and were bombarded. They were met with questions, with panic and gratitude and relief. Parents, siblings, guardians. Why are you crying, we were so worried about you, how did you get in without us noticing? Plates and cups were broken, dropped in disbelief.

But none of them really had anything to say. They had too much in their heads to talk.

Too much had changed- too much that nobody was going to understand. There was an emptiness in their hearts that they simply couldn't explain. They knew that they would always be out of place, trying to explain that.

But they had eachother- each kid had six others who knew, who had been there, who remembered. Because of that, for the first time in a long time, all seven children felt like they knew where they belonged.

**[Digimon re:GENESIS: End.]**

* * *

><p><em>AN: I am legitimately going to cry. 51 chapters. Over 300,000 words._

_And it's done._

_..._

_but wait._

_I have something special planned for the second anniversary, on the 8th. Come back then._

_but. um. wow. holy._

_i..._

_this has been an amazing journey you guys. I hope you stick around for re:CONNECT (which, I regret to inform you, is not a proper sequel- it's more the Tamers to re:GEN's Adventure, complete with alternate universe.)_

_But I just finished writing and posting Digimon re:GENESIS. What am I gonna do now?  
>I'm going to Disney World.<em>

_(no, seriously, I'm leaving tomorrow to visit friends in florida, and helping them move and we're going to Disney World. True story.)_

_But... writing and creating Digimon re:GENESIS has been an amazing experience for me. It hurts to be done with it. In a good way- the story that's been stewing in me is finally out to the world. These kids finally get to rest. All's well, and that's really sad to me There's nowhere else this story needs to go._

_**Please, please, please**__ review. I am actually begging now. Especially if you've yet to review- this is your chance!_

_Thank you to my reviewers, my readers, everyone who's supported this weird idea over the past two years. I love you guys._

_Thanks._

_-Kennedy/Kazz/Deekamon/whatever you know me by._


	52. Epilogue: Life is Waiting To Begin

"Hey!" a pair of voices called out.

Simon looked up from his phone, and a lopsided grin fell onto his face. A lone hand was waving up, its owner jumping to try and be seen better; more than a few people turned up their nose as a pair of young hooligans were trying to force their way through the crowds gathered in the city plaza.  
>Faris dragged Julian by the wrist until they broke through the wall of people.<p>

"What took you guys so long?" Emily asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes and beaming brightly.

"The public transportation system has proved to be less than reliable," Julian said dryly. The two brothers were the last to get there; Luke, Andrea, and Toby were all seated on the fountain basin, while Simon and Emily were both standing up, possibly to look for their only missing comrades.

"Tell me about it," Luke said, rolling his eyes.

It had been a year to the day. A year since they had said goodbye. A year since they had been in the same place together.  
>It had taken some serious finagling to get Emily and Julian here, of course, but a bit of clever plotting had made it possible. Oh, they had kept in contact, of course- a few hundred dozen IMs and emails and social network posts were more than proof of that, but still- it had been hectic, to say the least.<p>

It was hard to explain to your parents that you needed to meet up with these kids you fought a giant monster with, after all.

The fountain seemed only natural as a place to meet; it was public, for one, but it had the meaning, the deeper significance.

Hugs were exchanged; gentle ribbings were made at each other's expense. For the first time in a year, they had once more created that feeling of true belonging- not just that such a place existed, but that they were truly there.

But that... it sent a pang through their hearts. They had grown. They had gone through a year of carrying around, in their hearts, something that was too wild to explain and be believed about. They were still missing a full half of their friends; half of the people who had been through all of it with them.

It would be simply too much to explain why there were seven children both laughing and crying in the middle of the city square.

* * *

><p>Ten years. It had been ten years spent repairing, fixing, restoring the digital world. While the work was not yet done, it was almost fully restored to its rightful order. It did not exist wholly peacefully, of course, but such was not the way of the digital world. Yes, many digimon fought and killed eachother; but just as many lived a way they had not in a hundred years- they did not live in fear.<p>

And now may have been their only chance. The sovereigns did not plan; they did not have much time for conference. This may be their only chance- the only time they were convened there.

Luckily, they did not need to argue much at all.

Curled in her place around Yggdrasil's trunk, Huanglongmon's voice began to rumble to the four sovereigns that surrounded her- and through the fabric of the tree itself. She began to writhe around the tree, encircling it in a seamless, almost liquid manner, moving ceaselessly.

_We are grateful to those seven who risked, and those seven who gave, their lives to protect and heal our world. We, the Sovereigns, wish to make the final repair to what has been broken and complete the regenesis of our world._

With that, she began to roar. It was heard not just in the Hollow of Yggdrasil, but in the digital world- in every corner of every area, the air rumbled with Huanglongmon's voice.  
>She was joined by her fellows- Zhuqiaomon's keen, Ebonwumon's rumble, the roars of Baihumon and Azulongmon, until every inch of the digital world seemed to shake with the force of the noise. The will of all five Sovereigns came together; the tree began to shine and shift, setting itself to work.<p>

In the mountains, in the crater, and in the woods, three digimon in particular looked to the sky. Shamon bowed his head. BlackWarGreymon merely closed his eyes. Behind his hoodie, Deekamon smiled.

Behind the children, a world away, the fountain began to shimmer.

* * *

><p>In the digital world, data cannot be destroyed; it can only be changed, absorbed, relocated. It can change form, it can destroy other data- but it will eventually come back to Yggdrasil, and it will be changed by it.<br>Eventually, everything will die and be reborn anew. No life will last forever; but on the other side of the coin, no death is truly finite.

Those that serve the Sovereigns live by a motto in accordance with this truth.

_One day, all things will be come new._

**Digimon re:GENESIS: True End**

* * *

><p><em>AN: Happy second birthday, Digimon re:GENESIS._

_Thanks, guys. See you in December for re:CONNECT._


End file.
